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ICE Reportedly Detained 13 Pregnant Women In A Four Month Period

ICE Reportedly Detained 13 Pregnant Women
By 

Editor, Latino Voices

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY CARLOS MARIO MARQUEZ A prison guard frisks a female detainee before embarking onto a bus to be taken to the airport at Willacy Detention facility in Raymondville, Texas on December 18, 2008 early morning. The Willacy facility is used by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to keep illegal immigrants in detention before they are deported. Today, 116 Salvadorean nationals --83 men and 33 women-- were woken up at 4 a.m. and transported in buses under strict surveillance to Harlengen's airport to be taken back to El Salvador. AFP PHOTO/ Jose CABEZAS (Photo credit should read Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images)
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY CARLOS MARIO MARQUEZ A prison guard frisks a female detainee before embarking onto a bus to be taken to the airport at Willacy Detention facility in Raymondville, Texas on December 18, 2008 early morning. The Willacy facility is used by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to keep illegal immigrants in detention before they are deported. Today, 116 Salvadorean nationals --83 men and 33 women-- were woken up at 4 a.m. and transported in buses under strict surveillance to Harlengen's airport to be taken back to El Salvador. AFP PHOTO/ Jose CABEZAS (Photo credit should read Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images)

As part of an on-going investigation, Fusion has learned that 13 pregnant women were detained in an immigration detention center in El Paso between August and November of 2013.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says pregnant women shouldn’t be detained in their facilities “absent extraordinary circumstances,” and advocates say inadequate medical care in detention can pose a threat to the lives of women and their unborn children.

We first learned about pregnant detainees in El Paso from an undocumented activist, Santiago Garcia-Leco, who infiltrated the El Paso Processing Center last month. He was shocked by the number of pregnant women he learned were held in the female wing of the facility and decided to contact the media.

Read more on Fusion

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