Democrats bring resolution condemning ICE treatment of pregnant, postpartum immigrants
Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Democrat from Illinois, introduced a resolution Wednesday calling on the Trump administration to permanently reinstate policies protecting pregnant immigrants and to closely monitor reproductive health care quality and access across all detention facilities.
Ramirez said she is calling on her Democratic colleagues to take a firm stance against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions, particularly when it comes to the treatment of pregnant and postpartum immigrants. Ramirez added that her resolution is meant to broadly highlight how the administration’s enforcement policies are impacting immigrants’ access to reproductive health care, including access to contraception and abortion both in and out of the government’s custody.
The resolution affirms Congress’ oversight role and “the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for all, regardless of immigration status.” It also states that “reproductive justice and immigrant justice are inseparable.” The resolution is also being led by Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Jill Tokuda of Hawaii and has the backing of 31 other Democratic sponsors.
“This moment has demonstrated to us that you cannot say that you stand up for due process … that you fight for constitutional rights, and not take a real significant stance for immigrant communities and people that look like me being targeted just based on the color of our skin,” Ramirez said.
The administration’s arrests and detentions of pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants has come under scrutiny by lawmakers and civil rights advocates. As The 19th has reported, the Trump administration has stopped following Biden-era Department of Homeland Security policies restricting the arrest and detention of immigrants who have recently given birth, are pregnant or are nursing. In March, Congress let lapse a requirement that the administration report twice a year on how many of these immigrants are being held in immigration facilities, information that the administration has declined to make public.
The 19th reported last month on several cases of immigrant women who were held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and said they didn’t receive adequate food, sleeping situations, prenatal care or access to pumping supplies while in government custody. One woman reported suffering a miscarriage while in custody. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) documented more than a dozen additional cases in a letter sent to ICE officials on October 22.
On Tuesday, The 19th detailed the experience of Nayra Guzmán, a Mexican immigrant with pending asylum and visa applications who was in the government’s custody for about 34 hours and held at the Broadview Processing Center outside Chicago. Guzmán was detained on the way to visit her daughter in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), 15 days after a cesarean section. At Broadview, Guzmán had limited access to food and water, no bed or blankets, and no access to a breast pump. ICE did not respond to a request for comment on her case or the general conditions for postpartum immigrants at Broadview.
Democrats in Congress, including Ramirez, who represents a nearby Chicago-area district, have been sounding the alarm about conditions at Broadview for months. In an interview, Ramirez said that Guzmán’s treatment illustrates how poor treatment of immigrants in detention intersects with reproductive health care rights.
“We have to stop siloing the issues. And perhaps, that requires us, within the Democratic Party, to spend more time trying to really understand the complexities of immigration and how it intersects with pretty much everything we care about,” Ramirez said. “As I think about reproductive justice, abortion care, the Democratic Party did not stutter, saying that they were standing for abortion care.”
Last month, the Democratic Women’s Caucus called for the release of any pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants being held by ICE who don’t pose a security risk.
Ramirez was sworn in as the first Latina ever elected to Congress from Illinois — and the only member openly residing with an undocumented immigrant. Boris Hernandez was 14 when he immigrated to the United States in 2000 with his older brother, fleeing poverty in Guatemala. Ramirez said the process to legalize his status took three years and cost $15,000. The couple received a final decision granting Hernandez permanent U.S. residency right before the 2024 presidential election.
Ramirez said that in the lead-up to the midterm elections, ICE and the treatment of immigrants will be a concern for voters.
“More and more people who perhaps had voted for Trump or had not voted at all are saying that they will not support Trump. They denounce Trump. But it doesn’t automatically mean that those people were saying that they were supportive of Democrats,” Ramirez said. “Not drawing a red line when it comes to immigration has been a failure of the Democratic Party, and we have to start stepping in.”
