Protestors outside of Irwin County Detention Center Image:Jeff Amy (AP)
A congressional investigation is still ongoing into the medical mistreatment of detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center, a Georgia ICE facility, after a report concluded that 19 women were subject to “aggressive gynecological treatments” against their will or without their knowing consent. The women at the center were largely treated by a sole doctor, Dr. Mahendra Amin who allegedly performed several medically unnecessary hysterectomies without obtaining consent from patients. Vice is now reporting that ICE is attempting to deport several women who are key witnesses against the doctor and the facility.
One woman, Ana Cajigal Adan, was reportedly told she would be deported to Mexico, which she immigrated from at six months old with her family. Adan claims she was treated by Dr. Amin and has been writing letters to Congress regarding her mistreatment at the detention center. According to the report, immigration attorneys believe that ICE is purposely deporting women before they are able to testify in order to limit any obtainable evidence for the investigation.
Immigration attorney Andrew Free, who is working with other attorneys to investigate widespread claims against Amin, said ICE is systematically getting rid of evidence. “There has been a policy choice to allow the system that deports people without allowing them to testify or allowing government to investigate what happened to them,” Free, who says that even more women have been deported or moved toward deportation before they were able to fully testify, told VICE News. “The consequence is that they essentially complete the obstruction of evidence.”
Adan says she was told Tuesday night that she would be imminently deported, but Congressman Hank Johnson, who represents Georgia’s 4th district, stepped in to delay the separation until Adan’s full testimony can be heard. According to Vice, Adan’s lawyers still believe she can be deported at any time. Adan claims that some of the 50 women Dr. Amin allegedly mistreated have already been deported before they could testify or complete their testimonies in full.
