Woman Loses Pregnancy at ICE Detention

Incident Overview

Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus, a 38-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE in Lenoir City, Tennessee, in mid-March 2025. She was transferred through multiple detention facilities—including in Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama—before arriving at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana in early April 2025. She was then approximately 4–5 months pregnant and remained in custody until the loss of her baby was discovered.

Negligent Medical Care

• Ignored pleas for help: Iris repeatedly reported pain, insufficient fetal movement, and pregnancy complications over several days but received only minimal monitoring (blood pressure, urine tests) while staff delayed advanced evaluation and ignored her calls for an ultrasound.

• Delayed action cost her baby: She recounts, “I had him inside here for three days, … my baby dead in my stomach, inside my stomach for three days” before being admitted to Ochsner LSU Health – Monroe Medical Center on April 29.

Conditions & Treatment in Detention

• Poor nutrition and hygiene: Iris described inadequate food—often inedible or served with cockroaches—and reported unclean, demoralizing conditions such as sleeping on floors in Alabama and mocking treatment by guards.

• Psychological stress and deprivation: She experienced insomnia, anxiety, stroke-like symptoms, and was shackled and surveilled even during and after the miscarriage. She was denied privacy, phone access, and contact with her partner.

Pregnancy Loss

On April 29, physicians confirmed an intrauterine fetal death. Iris gave birth while under guard surveillance, without any prenatal care (“no PNC”). The guards remained by her side, and she was shackled during delivery.

Aftermath & Family Impact

• Lack of transparency: Her partner, Gary Bivens, only learned of the miscarriage after days of unanswered calls, being contacted by another detainee, and being rushed to decide about the baby’s remains. He was told he had to pay to ship them home.

• Deportation: Iris was deported to Guatemala shortly after the loss, pressured—she says—to sign deportation documents under duress without full understanding.

• Ongoing recovery: Reunited with her family in Guatemala, she now faces both serious physical recovery needs and emotional trauma.

Systemic Concerns & Policy Context

• Policy shift May 2025: A May 9 memo revoked protections for pregnant detainees under CBP, ICE, and other agencies—raising much larger risks, and underscored by Iris’s miscarriage after being ignored for three days.

• Broader trend: Between 2017–2018, at least ten women miscarried in ICE custody. In early 2025, nearly 300 pregnant women were being detained. The case highlights nationwide failure to uphold medical and humanitarian standards.

Legal, Ethical & Advocacy Response

• Rights violations: Under ICE policy, detainees—especially pregnant women—are entitled to timely medical evaluation, prenatal care, and confidential treatment. The lack thereof in Iris’s case raises potential legal violations.

• Calls for reform: Civil rights and immigration advocates argue detaining pregnant women in resource-poor facilities is inhumane. Case groups are pushing for re-establishing categorical protections and expanding alternatives to detention.

What Comes Next

Iris’s ordeal is not isolated—it reflects structural failures in medical care, oversight, and accountability in immigration detention. Her case has reignited calls to restore policy protections for pregnant detainees and to investigate conditions at facilities like Richwood. The urgency of reform has never been clearer.