Report Indicates Federal Immigration Centers Often Provide Inadequate Care To Women

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Public Health;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics;  Public Health
Article Date: 22 Jan 2009 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Some women held at federal immigration centers in Arizona failed to receive timely or adequate health care, according to a new study, the New York Times reports. Researchers from the University of Arizona's Southwest Institute of Research on Women and the James E. Rogers College of Law observed the conditions facing women in three federal immigration centers in Arizona, which are run by the Pinal County Sheriff's Department and the Corrections Corporation of America. Private contractors run many immigration centers across the U.S.

According to their findings, the women -- who rarely posed a flight risk -- experienced a lack of prenatal care, treatment for cancer, ovarian cysts and other severe medical conditions, the Times reports. An estimated 3,000 women are held in immigration centers throughout the country.

Katrina Kane -- director of Arizona detention and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- dismissed the study as an unsubstantiated account based on a limited number of cases, according to the Times. She said, "Reports such as this, while alleging to be unbiased, do great harm to the public's understanding of the complex issues involved in immigration law enforcement."

Nina Rabin, an immigration lawyer who led the study, said that interviews with current detainees, former detainees and their lawyers pointed to a pattern of mistreatment among the women -- a finding she said is backed by immigrant advocacy groups. She added, "We were pretty shocked to learn about all the ways in which life is made endlessly difficult for these women," especially pregnant women or those who had recently given birth.

The Arizona report is the latest to criticize conditions at immigration centers. Separate reports previously have been issued by the federal Government Accountability Office and the inspector general’s office at the Department of Homeland Security. In September, the immigration department announced it would draw up plans to improve conditions at the centers, which would not take full effect until 2010. Kane said that centers enforce all federal immigration center standards and if "those standards are not being met and we feel the deficiencies are not being corrected, we locate our detainees to other facilities." The Times also included the details of three cases that the study documented (Frosch, New York Times, 1/21).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations