Immigration

ICE will no longer automatically release pregnant detainees from immigration custody

By Tristan Justice, Anna Giaritelli
Published March 29, 2018 4:36pm ET
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ICE will no longer automatically release pregnant detainees from immigration custody
American citizen Lace Rodriguez looks back into Mexico while walking back to the U.S. border after visiting her husband Javier Guerrero on March 10, 2013 in Nogales, Mexico. The family lived together in Phoenix before Guerrero, an undocumented worker from Mexico, said he was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol after being stopped for speeding and drug possession, held for three months by ICE and then deported March 4 to Nogales, Mexico. Guerrero had lived in the United States for 17 years. He and Rodriguez, a medical student, have two children, and she is nine-months pregnant with a third. The splitting up of families has become a major issue as the U.S. works towards immigration reform. (Photo by John Moore/Getty images) | John Moore

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in a Thursday directive it will no longer automatically release into the interior of the country illegal immigrant women who are pregnant and will complete a case-by-case custody determination to determine if any other course of action should be taken.

“ICE has ended the presumption of release for all pregnant detainees. Instead, as with all detainees, absent the requirements of mandatory detention, ICE will complete a case-by-case custody determination taking any special factors into account. ICE detention facilities will continue to provide on-site prenatal care and education, as well as remote access to specialists for pregnant women who remain in custody,” the Department of Homeland Security agency said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.

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Department of Homeland Security Detainees ICE