Judges slam Trump officials' ever-changing story on lockup of pregnant women
Federal judges are losing patience with the Trump administration as they lock up pregnant and nursing women as part of their immigration sweeps — and refuse to be pinned down on whether or not they've changed a federal policy that limits this.
According to Politico, "courts are being confronted with harrowing stories about women being separated from their nursing infants or housed in cramped and ill-equipped ICE facilities while pregnant, in conditions that threaten their health and have, in some cases, been followed by miscarriages. That crystallized over the weekend in Massachusetts, when Djeniffer Benvinda Semedo, a Cape Verdean national who is six months pregnant, was rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for emergency care. The woman claimed that ICE held her in a temporary holding facility for three days, exacerbating her medical distress."
Other incidents, according to the report, include "a Myanmar refugee, with a nursing five-month-old at home, whisked abruptly to Texas by Immigration and Customs Enforcement," and "an Indian national who is three months pregnant and whose weight dropped to 90 pounds while in an ICE facility."
Federal immigration policy enacted under the Biden administration says pregnant or nursing women should only be locked up in “exceptional circumstances” like a clear risk to national security. However, according to the report, the Trump administration isn't being clear with judges whether or not they have rescinded that policy, leading to frustration from courts.
"A Justice Department attorney told a federal judge in August that the policy had been effectively revoked by President Donald Trump’s Day One executive order requiring the administration to maximize its deportation and detention operations," said the report. However, "last month, another DOJ attorney said the policy was still in effect and binding on ICE" — and when a federal judge in Wisconsin demanded answers from DOJ on why a mother nursing a six-month-old was locked up, they said DHS could not find a reason to keep her detained.
The Trump administration has broadly come under fire for unreasonable detentions, as the number of habeas petitions since the start of his first term has soared to 18,000 — more than the prior three administrations combined. Some legal experts are fearful the administration is trying to dismantle habeas rights altogether.