When Pregnant Women Are Detained by ICE

You might have experienced it yourself: That particular mix of apprehension, anxiety and fear that comes with being pregnant — the countless moments of self doubt and ‘what if’s.’ Pleasant? No. Normal? Totally. 

Now imagine having to navigate those uncertainties from inside an immigration detention center, where access to medical care is limited; where you might not speak the language; where your life is upended. 

For decades, U.S. immigration policy acknowledged the particular risks that detention poses to pregnant women. In 2016, under the Obama administration, federal immigration authorities adopted a presumption against detaining pregnant women, except in extraordinary circumstances or where detention was legally required. 

That protection was rolled back in Donald Trump's first term, only to be reversed when the Biden administration introduced a stronger directive in 2021, extending explicit protections to postpartum and nursing women.

But as immigration enforcement has intensified during Trump's second term, advocates say those safeguards are increasingly being disregarded, with pregnant women detained in conditions that put their health at risk.

How many women? The short answer is: It’s difficult to say. But earlier this year, following months of pressure from the Women's Refugee Commission — a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of displaced women, children and families — along with pressure from a coalition of senators led by Patty Murray and Richard Blumenthal, the Department of Homeland Security disclosed that as of Feb. 16, 2026, 86 pregnant women were in ICE detention and 16 miscarriages had been recorded in women in custody since January 2025. 

One of the women leading that pressure campaign was Zain Lakhani, the director of the Migrant Rights and Justice Project at the Women's Refugee Commission. “I wanted to understand how diminishing government oversight has made it harder to establish what exactly is happening to women behind detention center walls. The WRC is gathering the evidence needed to push for change,” she explained. 

Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How is the experience of displaced women and girls different from that of men?

It varies considerably depending on the context. But one thing we consistently see is that whenever there is harm, women and girls overwhelmingly experience a disproportionate burden.

And when we think about displacement globally, the ability to become a refugee [a person, recognized under international law, who is outside their country of nationality, and unable to return] or access a formal system of protection can be harder for women and girls. They more often experience internal displacement [the experience of being forced to flee the home without recognized refugee status] or other forms of displacement where there are fewer safety nets.

There are specific harms that disproportionately affect women and girls, including gender-based violence. And when we're talking about pregnant, postpartum and nursing women, anybody put into a detention facility is at risk of experiencing significant harm. 

What are the issues the Women's Refugee Commission is focused on today — in the U.S., specifically? 

There are two issues we've been closely focused on. The first is what I'm calling the new family separation crisis. We're seeing parents deported without being given an opportunity to decide what happens to their children — whether to bring their children with them or allow them to remain safely in the United States with a chosen caregiver.

The second issue is the crisis affecting pregnant, postpartum and nursing women who are being pulled into immigration custody, despite a U.S. policy that says — absent exceptional circumstances or legal requirements — these women should not be detained.

Our focus is on collecting evidence, talking to people and recording their experiences. If the government will not collect this information and will not keep track of where people are, then we will.

What protections are supposed to exist for pregnant women in immigration detention?

Since the Obama administration, there has been a presumption against detention for pregnant, postpartum and nursing women, although that was rescinded during the first Trump administration.

In 2021, we got a more robust directive. It's an internal ICE policy which essentially says that unless there's a legal reason for mandatory detention or an exceptional circumstance, such as a threat to national security, do not detain these women.

If they are detained, there are rigorous monitoring requirements. ICE's medical division needs regular visibility over every pregnant, postpartum and nursing woman in custody.

One of the reasons for this is that these women are vulnerable to complex health conditions and pregnancy complications that can turn very quickly. Detention facilities aren't set up to provide the medical care or nutritional requirements that pregnant women need.

Congressional oversight obtained figures showing 86 pregnant women in ICE custody on a single day in February, and 16 reported miscarriages since January 2025. How reliable are those numbers?

This is very complicated. I believe those numbers accurately reflect the information ICE headquarters had in its system. But I have concerns about how much they tell us about the full picture.

First, they don't capture women held in state or local facilities who haven't been transferred to ICE custody. We've seen a significant increase in pregnant women detained in county jails or other local facilities, sometimes for very long periods.

Second, our work suggests significant breakdowns in monitoring. We've encountered cases of women experiencing miscarriages without receiving medical attention or not having those miscarriages recorded, for example. We've also heard about women with high-risk pregnancies who were detained for months without being taken to a medical facility.

That makes me concerned that official reporting isn't capturing everybody's experiences.

Why has it become so difficult to establish what's happening inside detention centers?

In March 2025, we lost the congressional requirement for public reporting on pregnant, postpartum and nursing women in immigration custody. [The requirement was allowed to lapse.]

At the same time, our access to detention centers has been severely curtailed. Historically, advocates could go into facilities, speak to people and learn about their conditions. Oversight agencies within the Department of Homeland Security also monitored detention centers and investigated complaints.

That oversight structure has largely disappeared. Detention has become a black box. It's difficult for us to understand what's happening behind those walls.

How are you trying to overcome that lack of transparency?

We've filed Freedom of Information Act requests and worked with members of Congress, including Sen. Patty Murray, to obtain data.

We've also launched our detention pregnancy tracker, a crowdsourcing tool that allows legal service providers, medical workers, family members and others to submit confidential reports about pregnant, postpartum and nursing women affected by immigration enforcement.

Another approach has been traveling to reception centers [for deported people] across Central America and Mexico: If we can't talk to women inside detention centers, we can sometimes talk to them after they've been deported.

We partnered with the non-profit Physicians for Human Rights at a reception center in Honduras, speaking with people arriving on deportation flights, as well as reception center staff and medical workers.

We have to collect information every way we can. Together, we can put together a picture of what's happening.

Once you've gathered that evidence, how does it translate into change?

Any policy change requires understanding what's actually happening to people on the ground. Otherwise, how do you know what problem you're trying to solve?

For example, if we learn that pregnancy complications aren't being properly recorded, that suggests a need for stronger, legally required data collection.

Evidence allows members of Congress to engage in oversight, to propose legislation and to identify where intervention is needed. It also helps state and local governments understand what's happening inside detention centers in their jurisdictions.

But public education is absolutely vital too. 

When we talk about pregnant women in detention or parents being deported without the opportunity to make arrangements for their children, we get responses from across the political spectrum: People say, “No, this is too far.” They recognize that parents should have a choice about what happens to their children.

Are you optimistic that public pressure can make a difference?

I think we're in a moment in which people are paying attention. Now that we're beginning to understand what's happening, we can intervene: reunify families, help parents establish guardianship arrangements, or obtain documents so children can join [parents] in their countries of origin.

Understanding the harms is central to knowing how to respond. People have power. Americans have the power to decide what is done in their name.