There's a lot of talk around the forced hysterectomies at Irwin County ICE Detention Center.

This is what we know:
There are 13 confirmed cases (# may grow)
We need to #ShutDownIrwin AND #EndDetention
To get to the root of the problem = #AbolishICE

But there's more

This isn't a one-time thing. The conditions for something like this to occur have been brewing in ICE detention centers for years.

Black immigrant women have been protesting this all along. https://itsgoingdown.org/asylum-seekers-from-cameroon-launch-hunger-strike-in-louisiana-ice-detention/

The whistleblower? Also a Black woman.

Dawn Wooten was a nurse at the facility in Ocilla, Georgia where the hysterectomies took place.

Her bravery to speak up should be uplifted & now that her name is public, she should be protected. #ProtectBlackWomen https://twitter.com/ProjectSouth/status/1305905495425851394?s=20

“We stand with all the survivors of these atrocities, with the Black and brown women in detention who have been protesting these conditions, and with Dawn Wooten for speaking out to demand that ICE be held accountable for its ongoing violations of human rights." - @ErikaAndiola

At RAICES, we join local orgs working w/survivors in their call to #ShutDownIrwin & demand that the Office of Inspector General conduct a detailed investigation.

@ICEgov needs to be held accountable for this & countless other human rights abuses against immigrants in detention.

There are dozens more detailed complaints of medical neglect in ICE detention centers across the country. We know through our own experience as direct legal services providers in Texas that medical neglect & abuse at ICE prisons is rampant.

“Even at Karnes, which ICE touts as one of the safest & most family-friendly of its prisons, the migrants we serve have reported years of what amounts to at best, a culture of indifference in the medical services at Karnes." - Andrea Meza, RAICES Family Detention Program Director

This is by no means the first time we hear of such medical negligence for those in ICE custody. We have seen and heard countless stories that mirror much of what was detailed in Dawn Wooten’s complaint.

Let's go back to 2019...

Back then, ICE detained adult women at Karnes & as you may recall, we were working w/many of them to expose the medical neglect.

But before we could coordinate a public campaign, ICE transferred all of the women to detention centers around the country. https://twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS/status/1205142314508783617?s=20

These types of stories continued on throughout 2020 and have only worsened with #COVID19.

That's why we're encouraging more staff working in these facilities across the country to follow the lead & courage of Dawn Wooten & speak out about these abuses. https://twitter.com/RAICESTEXAS/status/1240292394949660673?s=20

"We've met w/dozens of women who've reported reproductive health issues & don't receive care. We've tried to pressure ICE to provide care. It alarms me that at Irwin, what was provided was forced sterilization." - Andrea Meza, RAICES Family Detention Program Director

History shows this is not the 1st time that forced sterilization has been employed as a tool of white supremacy upon Black, indigenous, and other women of color in the U.S.

Today, this is done under our watch in immigration prisons across the country.

This is why we are calling for every single ICE detention center to be shut down and for ICE to be abolished. We ask the American public to not look away.

#DontLookAway & let's #FreeThemAll