Last modified on Wed 6 Jan 2021 18.54 EST
More women have joined an official legal petition alleging that they were medically abused by a gynecologist while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody in a move that significantly expands a case that has shocked America.
The legal petition outlining these alleged abuses was filed in the middle district of Georgia federal court late Monday night. More than 40 women have submitted written testimony attesting to claims of abuse, one attorney on their case said.
These women, who have been detained by Ice at Irwin county detention center in Georgia, have alleged that they underwent invasive and unnecessary medical procedures. The women’s attorneys have also alleged that these women endured retribution for speaking out, including deportation in some cases. The petition largely echoed past legal filings and accounts by accusers.
Group of 35 immigrant women sue ICE over abuse by a Georgia doctor accused of performing hysterectomies without consent
A class-action lawsuit was filed Monday in the US District Court for the Middle District of Georgia by at least 35 women against ICE
Dr. Mahendra Amin is accused of operating on women held at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, without their consent
The suit also claims women faced retaliation for speaking out, including being deported, being placed in solitary confinement or being physically assaulted
It contains sworn testimony from at least 35 alleged victims
A nurse at the facility blew the whistle on the doctor s alleged treatment of the women in September
Originally published on December 22, 2020 10:36 pm
One former detainee says she was already in a hospital gown this past July, waiting to be wheeled into surgery, when she began to suspect something was very wrong. Jaromy Floriano Navarro thought she was getting an operation to remove a cyst on her ovary until the driver who brought her to the hospital said otherwise. She was just like, You know you re having a hysterectomy, right? Floriano tells NPR in an interview. And I was in shock, because I knew what that meant.
Floriano is one of more than 30 undocumented immigrants who ve come forward with allegations of medical abuse, according to court papers filed late Monday all of them current or former detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga. Many of the women say that they were pressured to have unwanted or unnecessary gynecological procedures while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or that they were retaliated against for sp