ICE is deporting women amid doctor investigation

WASHINGTON — Four months ago, a Honduran immigrant named Jackelin was taken from Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia to see a local gynecologist.

Then a few weeks ago, lawyers for Jackelin and 16 other women detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement informed investigators that the women wanted to testify against the doctor, who’s now at the center of a criminal investigation amid allegations that he pressured patients at Irwin to undergo unnecessary medical procedures, including hysterectomies.

Since then, immigration officials have moved to deport the 33-year-old mother of five, who is married to a U. S. citizen and has lived here for more than five years. Jackelin was scheduled for a Wednesday deportation flight, until a last-minute order came for her to remain at the rural Georgia facility.

This is the uncertainty for Jackelin and other women at Irwin who face imminent deportation by ICE, despite an ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI, the Justice Department and the Homeland Security inspector general’s office that focuses on their experiences with the gynecologist, Dr. Mahendra Amin.

The women — the majority of whom are Black or Latina, from the Caribbean, Africa and Latin America — allege that Amin performed overly aggressive or unnecessary gynecological surgeries on them without their consent, including removing their reproductive organs. Their accounts are backed by new lawsuits, sworn declarations, lawyers and outside medical experts who’ve submitted their analyses of thousands of pages of medical records to lawmakers, as well as to the investigators.

“The pain from the doctor was something horrible,” said Jackelin, who asked to be identified by her middle name because she feared retribution. Her lawyers filed suit on Monday.

The alleged abuses prompted a national outcry in September after a nurse at the facility filed a 27- page whistle blower complaint to the Homeland Security inspector general, leading more than 170 lawmakers to demand an investigation.

The women, as well as lawyers, advocates and members of Congress, allege that ICE is retaliating against the group for speaking out against Amin and their treatment in the agency’s custody, and attempting to obstruct the investigation by withholding medical records and physically removing the evidence: the women themselves.

ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said ICE is “fully cooperating” with the Homeland Security inspector general investigation, including interviews conducted by the Justice Department. Bennett said ICE has been notifying the inspector general’s office “about any planned transfers or removals of Irwin detainees who were former patients of Dr. Amin.”