Trump Admin Claims Prenatal Care for ICE Detainee, Docs Show Lack

Newly released federal documents contradict claims by the Department of Homeland Security that a pregnant Guatemalan woman received full prenatal care prior to suffering a stillbirth while held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Iris Dayana Monterroso Lemus, 38, lost her fetus in April at the Richwood Correctional Center, a private ICE detention facility operated by LaSalle Corrections in Monroe, Louisiana.

The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Intercept, undermine earlier statements by former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. McLaughlin had publicly labeled reports of medical neglect as false, claiming Monterroso Lemus received complete prenatal care, including an ultrasound and an OB-GYN visit. However, medical documents from Ochsner LSU Health Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, explicitly describe a pregnancy complicated by lack of prenatal care.

According to hospital records, Monterroso Lemus informed medical staff that she had complained to detention personnel for days about feeling no fetal movement, reporting that nothing was done. Internal ICE timelines included in the release detail nine medical encounters at the facility, primarily involving nurse visits and mental health consultations. While the documents list a referral for an OB-GYN, there is no record that an appointment was ever scheduled or completed, nor is there documentation of an ultrasound.

DHS officials previously cited a fetal Doppler test performed at the Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama as an ultrasound. Medical experts rejected that characterization. Dr. Andrea Schecter, an OB-GYN specializing in high-risk pregnancies, stated that a Doppler test only provides audio monitoring of a fetal heartbeat and does not replace visual imaging. Schecter and Dr. Amy Zeidan, an emergency medicine professor at Emory University, noted that comprehensive prenatal care requires visual ultrasounds and anatomy scans, which are frequently absent in immigration detention centers.

On April 29, Monterroso Lemus was taken to Ochsner LSU, where she delivered a stillborn fetus at approximately 23 weeks of pregnancy. Ten days after the stillbirth, ICE officers placed her in restraints and deported her to Guatemala, causing her scheduled postpartum medical appointment to be canceled.

The revelation has renewed scrutiny over the treatment of pregnant immigrants in federal custody. U.S. Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., described the handling of pregnant women in immigration detention as barbaric and unconscionable. Legal experts note that the detention of pregnant individuals flouts a 2021 ICE directive stating that agency personnel generally should not detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless mandated by law or exceptional circumstances.

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