ICE has restarted detention in controversial South Georgia immigrant jail
A jail that was once at the center of a controversy about the standard of gynecological care received by immigrant women is once again receiving immigrant detainees, a Department of Homeland Security official told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday.
The Irwin County Detention Center erupted into the national discourse in 2020, following a whistleblower complaint from a nurse at the South Georgia facility who claimed a high number of hysterectomies had been performed on detainees — a claim later deemed false by a federal judge.
The facility is a 1,296-bed jail from Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections, with which the federal government contracts to hold immigrant detainees. The allegation led the Biden administration to move all Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees out of the jail in 2021.
So far, only adult men are being sent to ICDC, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. The jail will not be used for families. According to McLaughlin, the administration will use up to 1,200 beds at the South Georgia facility, which will be subject to ICE detention standards.
In 2022, a Senate panel released the result of an 18-month bipartisan investigation into the claim of medical abuse at ICDC.
Investigators did not substantiate “allegations of mass hysterectomies,” but said they did find female detainees appeared to have been subjected to “excessive, invasive and often unnecessary” gynecological procedures, and raised questions about detainees’ ability to consent to the procedures.
ICE determined that the two hysterectomies performed on detainees by Dr. Mahendra Amin “appeared to be medically necessary,” the report said.
Citing a review it commissioned of more than 16,600 pages of medical records pertaining to 94 women treated by Amin, the report spotlighted an expert’s conclusion that the doctor’s care was “too aggressive.”
But Stacey Evans, the doctor’s attorney, said the Senate report needs to be taken “with a grain of salt.” Amin has settled defamation cases against NBC Universal and Amazon. Each case sought multi-million-dollar judgments, and the settlement terms of each are confidential.
Evans said the Senate panel’s investigation was flawed because it relied on limited records, obtained from the jail.
“This should not be surprising because the detainees did not get treatment at ICDC,” Evans said. “They were taken off site when treatment was requested and they always had free will to go or not go for gynecological treatment.”
Evans also said the doctor was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General and the Georgia Composite Medical Board, which cleared him of wrongdoing and he currently has an active medical practice.
“Those investigations are concluded as far as we know, and with no actions against Dr. Amin,” Evans said of the OIG probe. “Dr. Amin is a dedicated physician who has devoted his life to treating an underserved area of Georgia and he offered his services to treat ICDC patients previously because he knew that if he didn’t offer, there may be no OB/GYN care available.”
The report from the Senate panel investigation noted that six female former detainees interviewed by investigators said their gynecological care during their time at ICDC left them “confused, afraid and violated.”
Several reported they still lived with physical pain and worried the treatments they received may have compromised their fertility. At the time of their interviews, five of the six detainees had joined a lawsuit against ICE and other parties. The lawsuit was eventually settled, many months later, against the other defendants. Dr. Amin was dismissed prior to the settlement.
ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams did not respond to a question about when ICE will restart sending detainees to ICDC. But it is a development that comes amid surging demand from the Trump administration for detention beds. The decision was first reported by The Washington Post.
Irwin County officials, and the mayor of Ocilla, site of the detention center, did not respond to requests for comment.
Amilcar Valencia, director of El Refugio, a Georgia nonprofit that works to support immigrant detainees and their families, said ICE’s return to the Irwin County Detention Center “should alarm us all.”
“We call on members of Congress, local officials and community members to reject this hateful agenda,” Valencia said. “Stand with us and let’s get ICE out of Ocilla and halt any other detention expansion in Georgia.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration set a record high of more than 60,000 people in immigration detention, up from about 39,000 in January.
The expansion of the immigrant population in federal custody has triggered reports of overcrowding in ICE detention centers. The agency has also turned to temporary holding facilities to detain immigrants for long stretches in reportedly unhygienic conditions, including in Atlanta.
A vast expansion of ICE’s detention infrastructure had been telegraphed earlier this year, when the tax and spending bill passed by Republicans set out $75 billion in extra funding for the agency.
ICE’s growing presence in South Georgia — a region that is already home to ICE’s Stewart Detention Center and the expanding Folkston ICE Processing Center — will likely bring economic opportunity to local communities. In 2021, Irwin County officials and business owners described ICE’s pull out as a significant economic blow.
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