Female migrants subjected to invasive and 'disturbing' medical procedures in ICE detention center, Senate finds 

Female immigrants detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Georgia were subjected to unnecessary and invasive gynecological procedures, often without consent, according to the results of a bipartisan Senate investigation released on Tuesday. 

The 18-month-long investigation by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations began when a whistleblower—a nurse at the facility—reported the gynecological procedures being performed on detainees without their consent. 

After reviewing thousands of pages of medical records and other documents, the Senate investigators concluded that the immigrants detained at the Irwin County center were subjected to unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds, contraceptive injections, and dilation and curettage procedures. 

The probe focused on the off-site consultations and treatment provided by Dr. Mahendra Amin, who conducted hundreds of procedures on the migrants between 2017 and 2020. The investigation interviewed six women in detail about their experiences as Amin’s patients. 

The Senate panel heard testimony from a detained migrant mother, Karina Cisneros Preciado, who was violently transported to the gynecologist's office, where Amin attempted to force her to undergo ovarian surgery and injected her with a contraceptive without any explanation. 

"I had no control over my body," she said. "Before this experience, I had suffered sexual assault before, as a child. So... the experience with Dr. Amin made me feel the same thing I felt, it made me feel like I had no control over my body, no say, no vote."

Amin declined to testify in Tuesday’s hearing in Washington or answer to the investigation, asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. 

“I can’t think of much of anything worse than this — unnecessary surgeries performed on prisoners,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia said. “Give me a break. It is an abject failure.”

While the Senate probe focuses on the treatment the migrants received at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, the findings are raising concerns about inadequate behavior in other detention facilities, a senior Senate official told Bloomberg.