DHS Confirms It’s Breaking Its Own Rules by Detaining Hundreds of Pregnant & Postpartum Women

Over the last year, ICE has mistreated, isolated, and risked the lives of pregnant detainees—in full violation of its own rules, or Directive 11032.4. But on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security released some official numbers on just how many pregnant people have been unlawfully detained—and if the agency’s track record of spinning their own narrative is any indication, the numbers are likely to be underreported. 

Between January 2025 and February 15, 2026, DHS deported at least 363 pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women; at least 498 were “booked out of ICE custody” (detained before they left a facility); and as of February 16, at least 121 are still detained—with nine being in their third trimester.

The data comes as a response to a letter sent by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and 27 other Dems in September, which demanded answers about the pregnant and postpartum individuals being detained by ICE. This is the first public data since March 2025, when Congress let lapse a requirement for DHS to provide a biannual report on how many pregnant immigrants were being held, with detailed reasons as to why. 

“We demanded accountability and clarity from then-Secretary Noem, and she left us with more questions than answers,” Murray said in a statement. “The Trump Administration’s barbaric treatment of pregnant women in immigration custody is completely unconscionable and according to their responses to our letter, they’re going against their own standards.”

During the Biden administration, ICE was told they cannot detain anyone who’s pregnant, postpartum, or breastfeeding unless their release is prohibited by law, or in the case of exceptional circumstances—like if the individual poses a national security concern, or poses an imminent risk of death, violence, or physical harm to another. But these situations, the law states, are “very limited.” And during Trump’s second term, not only was this policy confirmed to have been violated hundreds of times, but Noem once justified a woman’s detainment by falsely accusing her of murder—after the woman told reporters she suffered a miscarriage while being held by ICE.

In its letter to senators—as has become expected—DHS provided its own alternative reality: “In the limited circumstances in which detention is necessary and appropriate, ICE monitors aliens known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing detained in ICE custody for general health and well-being, including regular custody and medical reevaluation, to ensure appropriate pre- and/or post-natal and other medical and mental health care.” 

This is false. On Thursday, Physicians for Human Rights and the Women’s Refugee Commission published a report consisting of interviews with parents who were recently deported to Honduras—along with the reception centers that did their intake. Of the 29 interviewees, three women were visibly pregnant, and four were postpartum—all of whom had been separated from their babies. 

“Two days ago, they took me to the hospital to see a gynecologist, but they took me in handcuffs,” one woman said. “They sent me to take a urine test, and do you know what they did? They tied one of my hands to a pole in the bathroom, and with the other I had to hold the urine container, and the guard was standing outside with the door open. It would have been better not to have gone.” 

In August, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) published the findings of a months-long investigation detailing 510 credible instances of human rights abuses in ICE detention centers, 14 of which detailed the mistreatment of pregnant people. In October, multiple women also shared their stories of solitary confinement; some suffered miscarriages, leading the ACLU, Kennedy Human Rights Center, and other organizations to write a letter to DHS demanding they be released. And in February, another report—this one from the Texas Tribune— revealed that ICE is intentionally sending pregnant girls to a specific detention center in Texas, where abortion is banned.

By the end of Thursday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.)—an anti-abortion freak who has all but promised to make pregnant detainees’ lives an even-worse hell—will likely be confirmed as the next Secretary of Homeland Security. The impeachment vote can’t come fast enough.

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