ICE Stops Tracking Miscarriages as Detention of Pregnant Women Reaches Record Highs
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has quietly stopped tracking miscarriages among detained immigrants, even as the agency detains a record number of pregnant people—over 100 per month—according to internal records. The shift, which took effect after October 3, 2025, means that pregnancy losses in ICE custody are no longer systematically recorded, raising serious concerns about the quality of prenatal and postpartum care in detention facilities. At Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, and other sites, women report inadequate medical attention, with some suffering miscarriages without receiving emergency care. Because early miscarriages often produce few noticeable symptoms, many women do not seek or receive medical help, and their losses go unrecorded—further obscuring the true scope of the problem.
The human toll is stark. Anabell, a detained woman, has remained in ICE custody for nearly six months, where she “has continued to bleed, vomit and lose her hair in chunks,” according to The Guardian. Laura, a 21-year-old held at the Dilley facility in Texas with her two-year-old son, has a history of miscarriages and fears for her health. While it is difficult to directly link detention conditions to pregnancy loss, Dr. Deborah Ottenheimer, an obstetrician-gynecologist and medical advisor with Physicians for Human Rights, emphasizes that pregnant women in ICE custody are clearly not receiving sufficient medical attention during such critical events. ICE officials have declined to address questions about reports that women are being denied essential prenatal, postpartum, and miscarriage care.
The lack of tracking compounds an already opaque system. Without records of miscarriages, it becomes nearly impossible to hold facilities accountable or to identify patterns of neglect. ICE’s decision to stop documenting these losses coincides with an unprecedented surge in the detention of pregnant immigrants, creating a dangerous combination of increased vulnerability and reduced oversight. Advocates warn that this data gap effectively erases women’s experiences and undermines calls for reform. As detention numbers continue to climb, the absence of miscarriage data leaves a critical blind spot in the monitoring of immigrant health
Shimanta Das 
