I am horrified by reports that immigrant women trapped in ICE detention centers are being subjected to forced and coerced hysterectomies. Immigrants are human beings with autonomy and rights, not bodies to be experimented on, and one’s documentation status should not change that.

The history of forced sterilization in the United States is long, dark, disturbing, and dehumanizing. Preventing women, particularly Black women and women of color, from having full autonomy over their bodies and reproductive futures is white supremacy in action.

We will work with our partners however we can to immediately stop this practice, not just in detention centers, but also in the prison system and globally, where these atrocities continue.