Immigrants in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Georgia are being subjected to horrific conditions and treatment, including “jarring medical neglect” and a high rate of hysterectomies among women, according to a whistleblower complaint filed by several legal advocacy groups on behalf of a nurse who works there.
The nurse, Dawn Wooten, has been practicing for more than 10 years, three of which she was employed at Irwin county detention center in Georgia, which is run by private corporation LaSalle Corrections. The complaint, filed on her behalf on 14 September, accused the center of negligence, including poor safety precautions surrounding Covid-19 and generally hazardous and unsanitary conditions.
Immigrants who spoke out against these conditions were regularly pushed into solitary confinement, the complaint said. Wooten says she was demoted and reprimanded when she spoke out about these practices, according to an interview with the Intercept.
According to the new complaint, Wooten reported an alarmingly high rate of hysterectomies – a surgery in which part or all of the uterus is removed – being performed on Spanish-speaking immigrants, many of whom did not appear to understand why they had undergone the procedure.
She said an off-site doctor supposedly performed the surgeries on women who complained of heavy menstrual cycles, but that many women seemed to not understand what had happened. In many cases nurses obtained consent from patients by “simply googling Spanish”, the complaint alleges.
“Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy – just about everybody,” Wooten said. “That’s his specialty, he’s the uterus collector. Everybody’s uterus cannot be that bad.”
The complaint also alleges health and safety violations related to the procedures. One woman said she was not properly anesthetized during a procedure and overheard the doctor say he had mistakenly removed the wrong ovary, rendering her unable to have children. Another went in to have a cyst drained and ultimately got a hysterectomy instead, the complaint said.
Conditions have “only worsened” in the face of Covid-19 threats, the complaint says. The facility has refused to test detained immigrants for Covid-19 in a timely manner, concealed numbers of positive tests and mixed those who have been exposed to Covid-19 with those who have not, according to the complaint.
“There is no social distancing possible in a detention center,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, a human rights attorney at Project South. “We are calling for people to be freed immediately, and we have been calling for this facility to be shut down for a long time.”
Shahshahani said the groups also plan to file these documents to Congress as well as to the United Nations. The United Nations defines “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” as an act of genocide, a crime under international law.
“These are gross human rights violations, and the US government should be held accountable,” she said. She added that Irwin detention center is not unique: Project South filed similar complaints against the Stewart detention center, another location in Georgia where detainees have alleged abuse.
Sources: 1, 2, 3.
So, it seems that an ICE facility in Georgia has been putting female detainees through hysterectomies without their informed consent, rendering them unable to have children. This is essentially a form of genocide, as defined by the United Nations, and as such is a crime under international law. Personally, I wish I could say I was surprised, but I have come to expect this sort of behaviour from organisations like ICE, and in my opinion this just furthers the argument that they should be permanently dismantled.
What do you think NSG? Does this constitute a crime under international law, and if so will the perpetrators be brought to justice?
