Immigration Facilities Housing Pregnant Teens in Texas Still Lack Specialized Care, Advocates Say

The San Benito detention center is run by Urban Strategies, a for-profit company that has contracted with the federal government to care for unaccompanied children for more than a decade, according to USAspending.gov. Since late July of last year, more than a dozen pregnant minors have been placed at the Texas facility, with some as young as 13, and at least half of those taken in so far became pregnant as a result of rape.

"It is absolutely shameful that this administration continues to treat immigrant individuals, human beings, as subhuman and unworthy of any kind of health care, but especially reproductive health care," Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said on April 2, as noted by Border Report.

Garza, who is based in Brownsville, said she entered the facility when she worked as a legal services provider but has not been back during Trump's second term. When asked by the outlet about conditions inside, Garza said that when she visited, it was set up like a "repurposed school" but lacked advanced medical facilities.

Former government officials, health care professionals, migrant advocates and civil rights attorneys said earlier this year that the Trump administration's decision to send pregnant, at-risk unaccompanied migrant children to the San Benito shelter is intended to limit their access to abortion by placing them in a state where the procedure is largely banned.

Apart from lacking the facilities needed to treat youth pregnancies, the Texas Civil Rights Project released a report last year saying the San Benito facility, as well as other detention centers in Texas, did not have enough menstrual products or access to birth control.

In February, an investigation by The Texas Newsroom and The California Newsroom found that none of the pregnant girls housed at the San Benito facility had experienced major medical complications since being transferred there in July, and several have given birth and remain detained with their infants.

But officials and advocates warned it may only be a matter of time before something goes wrong, arguing that detaining pregnant unaccompanied migrants there carries significant risk.

"It's not good to be a pregnant person in Texas, no matter who you are," said Annie Leone, a nurse-midwife who recently spent five years caring for pregnant and postpartum migrant women and girls at a large family shelter near San Benito. "So, to put pregnant migrant kids in Texas, and then in one of the worst health care regions of Texas, is not good at all."

As questions about conditions inside the San Benito facility continue, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees unaccompanied migrant children, told Border Report that pregnant minors are sent to facilities deemed appropriate for their needs.

"Office of Refugee Resettlement placement decisions follow child-welfare best practices and are made individually to ensure each unaccompanied alien child, including those who are pregnant or parenting, is placed in a setting that meets their medical, developmental, and safety needs," an HHS spokesperson told the outlet. The agency did not confirm how many pregnant migrants are currently housed at the facility.

Pregnant girls who recently endured the often dangerous journey to the United States face even greater risks, obstetrics experts said. Many were raped during their journey and may have sexually transmitted infections that can complicate pregnancy, compounded by little or no prenatal care, inadequate nutrition and the trauma of detention.

"You couldn't set up a worse scenario," said Dr. Blair Cushing, who runs a women's health clinic in McAllen, about 45 minutes from San Benito. "I'm kind of blown away by the level of risk that they're concentrating in this facility."