U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff held a news conference Monday regarding his office’s monthslong investigation into conditions inside immigration detention facilities which, he says, uncovered multiple instances of alleged mistreatment and “human rights abuse.”
The Georgia Democrat highlighted 14 reports of alleged mistreatment of pregnant woman in custody, as well as 18 reports of alleged mistreatment of children, including U.S. citizens.
Those are among more than 510 “credible reports of human rights abuse” against people in immigration detention centers since January, as stated in the Ossoff team’s report, published last week.
“I’m sounding the alarm,” Ossoff said, adding that the “unacceptable conditions” uncovered by investigators in his office are “likely the tip of the iceberg.”
According to the report, an anonymous Department of Homeland Security official shared having seen pregnant women sleeping on floors in overcrowded intake cells. The partner of a pregnant woman in custody also reported to the senator’s staff that she had been bleeding for days before being taken to a hospital. Once there, the woman said she was left in a room, alone, to miscarry without water or medical assistance, for more than 24 hours.
In another case, a pregnant detainee told the senator’s staff that she’d repeatedly requested medical attention, but was told to “just drink water.” The document also cites reports from attorneys who said their pregnant clients have been waiting for weeks to see a doctor.
The cases of alleged abuse of children include a 10-year-old U.S. citizen who was recovering from brain surgery while being detained with her family. She was reportedly denied access to necessary follow-up care and faces continued brain swelling and speech and mobility difficulties, the Ossoff report says.
“These detention facilities, absent some pressing threat to public safety, are no place for children or pregnant women,” Ossoff said.
Last week, DHS issued a press release forcefully pushing back on the findings of Georgia senator’s investigation.
“Politicians stayed quiet as the Biden administration lost 450,000 unaccompanied migrant children and opened our border to terrorists and gang members. Yet now, these same politicians are peddling FALSE claims that rely on inaccurate reporting to score political points,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
She added that all detainees have access to comprehensive medical care. According to DHS, that includes regular prenatal visits, mental health services and nutritional support for pregnant women. The department noted that no pregnant woman has been forced to sleep on the floor, and that the detention of pregnant women has elevated oversight and review.
DHS also defended the medical care minors have access to while in custody, noting: “For many of these children this is the best health care they have received in their entire lives.”
“These false allegations are garbage and are part of the reason ICE agents are now facing an 1,000% increase in assaults against them,” McLaughlin added.
On Monday, Ossoff said he stood by his office’s investigation, which he said was the product of interviews with dozens of witnesses and sources, including correctional staff, law enforcement and DHS officials, attorneys, detainees and their family members, doctors and nurses.
Ossoff investigators also gained access to visit six detention facilities across the U.S., including one in Georgia: the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, which began holding ICE detainees this year.
“This is a well-documented problem that, by all accounts, is becoming worse than it ever has been,” Ossoff said. “And I think for the Department of Homeland Security to immediately issue a blanket denial without any due diligence or investigations of these credible reports of human rights abuses in U.S. facilities is absurd.”
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