Women held in US had surgery without consent: Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico - At least two Mexican women underwent surgery without their consent at a US immigration detention centre, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement on Saturday that authorities from its consulate in Atlanta identified the cases after allegations emerged of irregularities, including sterilisations, at a privately run detention centre in the state of Georgia.

It said one of the women had undergone ‘a surgical intervention’ - but not a hysterectomy - without her consent, and did not receive post-operative care.

“The consulate general requested the opinion of a medical specialist who, after an exhaustive review of the file, considers that there are irregularities or anomalies in the medical procedure,” the document read.

Diplomats were also verifying the case of another woman from the same center who had already been repatriated to Mexico, the ministry said.

The statement said she could also have ‘undergone gynecological surgery without her full consent, without having received an explanation in Spanish of the medical diagnosis or the nature of the medical procedures that would be performed’.

The Mexican government reported late last month that it was investigating whether six of its citizens were sterilised without their consent at the immigration detention centre in Irwin County.