On February 22, a 24-year-old Honduran woman who had been detained by US Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”) and was in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) went into premature labour and delivered a stillborn baby, according to a joint statement by both agencies.
According to the agencies, the woman, whose name is being withheld, was detained near Hidalgo, Texas on February 18. She was being processed for release when she began complaining of abdominal pains. She was examined by ICE Health Service Corps and before emergency responders could arrive to take her to the hospital, she delivered the stillborn male infant at the Port Isabel Detention Center.
ICE has denied any culpability in the incident.
For investigative and reporting purposes, a stillbirth is not considered an in-custody death, a policy that appears to run counter to positions taken by the current administration. ICE and CBP have released details of the incident in order to be transparent with Congress, the media, and the public.
Migrant advocates have suggested that authorities are being selective with their narrative by not recognising the woman’s stillbirth as a death. They allege her incarceration robbed the woman of sustaining a healthy pregnancy. Others claim conditions in the detention facilities regularly lead to health issues, especially among pregnant women.
Under the Obama administration, pregnant women could not be detained except for rare occasions however in December 2017, ICE implemented a policy of detaining women not yet in their third trimester.
