[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 172 (Friday, October 2, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5645-H5652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0915
  CONDEMNING UNWANTED, UNNECESSARY MEDICAL PROCEDURES ON INDIVIDUALS 
                  WITHOUT THEIR FULL, INFORMED CONSENT

  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1164, I call 
up the resolution (H. Res. 1153) condemning unwanted, unnecessary 
medical procedures on individuals without their full, informed consent, 
and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1164, the 
amendment to the resolution, printed in House Report 116-557, is 
adopted and the resolution, as amended, is considered read.
  The text of the resolution, as amended, is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1153

       Whereas there is a shameful history in the United States of 
     Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrants, poor people, 
     and people with disabilities being subjected to medical 
     procedures without their informed consent;
       Whereas 32 States passed eugenic-sterilization laws, 
     resulting in the sterilization of between 60,000 to 70,000 
     people beginning in the early 1900s;
       Whereas 25 percent of Native American women of childbearing 
     age were sterilized over the course of 6 years after the 
     passage of the Family Planning Services and Population 
     Research Act of 1970;
       Whereas incarcerated individuals have continued to face 
     sterilization practices, including nearly 150 incarcerated 
     women in California prisons sterilized between 2006 and 2010;
       Whereas, on September 14, 2020, a coalition of 
     organizations, including Project South, Georgia Detention 
     Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and South 
     Georgia Immigrant Support Network, filed a complaint to the 
     Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General 
     expressing concerns about the Irwin County Detention Center 
     in Ocilla, Georgia, including detained immigrant women 
     receiving unnecessary hysterectomies and a lack of informed 
     consent for gynecological procedures;
       Whereas a growing number of women are coming forward to 
     share stories of unwanted, unnecessary medical procedures, 
     including full or partial hysterectomies and other procedures 
     involving their reproductive organs, performed without their 
     knowledge or consent;
       Whereas, on September 16, 2020, U.S. Immigration and 
     Customs Enforcement nearly deported a woman who was formerly 
     detained at Irwin County Detention Center who had one 
     fallopian tube removed without her knowledge or consent;
       Whereas, on September 18, 2020, 4 women came forward saying 
     that they did not approve of the procedures they received;
       Whereas an initial review of available medical records by 
     independent gynecologists raises serious questions about 
     whether patients detained at the Irwin County Detention 
     Center provided informed consent and whether prevailing 
     standards of care were adhered to in their care; and
       Whereas these allegations indicate a failure by U.S. 
     Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct rigorous 
     oversight to protect the health and safety of people in its 
     custody: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) condemns performing unwanted, unnecessary medical 
     procedures on individuals without their full, informed 
     consent;
       (2) recognizes that everyone deserves to control their own 
     reproductive choices and make informed choices about their 
     bodies;
       (3) recognizes that further accountability, oversight, and 
     transparency is necessary to protect people in the custody of 
     U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and
       (4) calls on the Department of Homeland Security to--
       (A) pause the removal of any individual who experienced any 
     medical procedure at the Irwin County Detention Center;
       (B) allow individuals who may have experienced an 
     unnecessary or nonconsensual procedure to have immediate 
     access to adequate, safe, and consensual medical treatment or 
     to seek a second opinion from an independent medical 
     professional;
       (C) immediately comply with all investigations and records 
     requests related to investigations about the Irwin County 
     Detention Center;
       (D) ensure impacted individuals are able to freely 
     participate in any investigation and share their stories 
     without fear of reprisal; and
       (E) hold all individuals found to be involved in any 
     unnecessary or nonconsensual medical procedure at the Irwin 
     County Detention Center accountable and bring them to 
     justice.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution, as amended, shall be 
debatable for 1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and 
ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
  The gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal) and the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Washington.


                             General Leave

  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 1154.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, imagine this: You are an immigrant woman detained in a 
detention center. Perhaps you have been

[[Page H5646]]

asking for help for months about a painful medical condition or perhaps 
you have had no medical complaints at all.
  You are suddenly woken up early in the morning. You are put in 
shackles and taken not to a general practitioner, but to a 
gynecologist.
  That gynecologist performs ultrasounds, inserts tools, even his own 
hands into your body without any consent or any lubrication. You are in 
pain. You do not know what is being done to you. You feel violently 
sexually assaulted.
  The doctor tells you that you have a major problem, cysts that must 
be operated on, from that simple examination he did. You don't want 
surgery and you even say so. He says: Okay, I will give you a shot 
instead.
  And because you are scared, you take the shot, but you don't know 
what it is. You haven't been told what it is. You certainly have no 
idea that, in fact, this is a shot that is an injectable contraceptive 
that temporarily prevents you from having children and can have other 
serious side effects, including bleeding.
  Now you are bleeding. You are scared, and you don't know what is 
happening. You go back to see the gynecologist, and he tells you this 
is why he said you must have surgery.
  You have doubts. You want a second opinion. But you are told you 
cannot have a second opinion, and it is either this or you will never 
get any care again--after all, you are in detention.
  You finally, perhaps in some cases, agree to the surgery thinking 
that you are just having cysts removed, but you wake up and you find 
out that you have had a full or partial hysterectomy, one of your 
fallopian tubes has been removed or perhaps some other surgery that you 
weren't expecting.
  Imagine that someone has just taken away or severely compromised your 
ability to have children without ever telling you or asking your 
consent for what they are doing.
  Mr. Speaker, that is why we are here today, to vote on House 
Resolution 1153, to condemn unwanted, unnecessary medical procedures 
conducted on women without their full, informed consent, to ensure the 
safety, health, and presence of the women at the Irwin County Detention 
Center, and to mandate full compliance of ICE with the requirements of 
the ongoing investigation.
  The story I just described is just one of the many stories we have 
now heard from women who are either currently or were formerly detained 
at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia.
  Please understand that 90 percent of the people detained at this 
facility are completely unrepresented by any attorney. Moreover, like 
all detention facilities, Irwin has been plagued with COVID. People 
detained here report not receiving adequate PPE, and there have been 
multiple cases of COVID.
  Since this horrific story emerged through a whistleblower report 2 
weeks ago, a few attorneys who are representing some of the women have 
brought forward more stories.
  Independent gynecologists have reviewed the available medical 
records.
  The New York Times launched an independent investigation, asking 
independent gynecologists to review the records of seven women who were 
able to obtain their medical files. What they found is deeply 
disturbing.
  The doctors noted that the gynecologist ``seemed to consistently 
recommended surgical intervention, even when it did not seem medically 
necessary at the time and nonsurgical treatment options were 
available.''
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a September 29 New York Times 
article, titled: ``Immigrants Say They Were Pressured Into Unneeded 
Surgeries.''

               [From the New York Times, Sept. 29, 2020]

       Immigrants Say They Were Pressured Into Unneeded Surgeries


 Immigrants detained at an ICE-contracted center in Georgia said they 
 had invasive gynecology procedures that they later learned might have 
                            been unnecessary

      (By Caitlin Dickerson, Seth Freed Wessler and Miriam Jordan)

       Wendy Dowe was startled awake early one morning in January 
     2019, when guards called her out of her cellblock in the 
     Irwin County immigration detention center in rural Georgia, 
     where she had been held for four months. She would be having 
     surgery that day, they said.
       Still groggy, the 48-year-old immigrant from Jamaica, who 
     had been living without legal status in the United States for 
     two decades before she was picked up by immigration 
     authorities, felt a swell of dread come over her. An outside 
     gynecologist who saw patients in immigration custody told her 
     that the menstrual cramping she had was caused by large cysts 
     and masses that needed to be removed, but she was skeptical. 
     The doctor insisted, she said, and as a detainee--brought to 
     the hospital in handcuffs and shackles--she felt pressured to 
     consent.
       It was only after she was deported to Jamaica and had her 
     medical files reviewed by several other doctors that she knew 
     she had been right to raise questions.
       A radiologist's report, based on images of her internal 
     organs from her time at Irwin, described her uterus as being 
     a healthy size, not swollen with enlarged masses and cysts, 
     as the doctor had written in his notes. The cysts she had 
     were small, and the kind that occur naturally and do not 
     usually require surgical intervention.
       ``I didn't have to do any of it,'' Ms. Dowe said.
       The Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga., drew 
     national attention this month after a nurse, Dawn Wooten, 
     filed a whistle-blower complaint claiming that detainees had 
     told her they had had their uteruses removed without their 
     full understanding or consent.
       Since then, both ICE and the hospital in Irwin County have 
     released data that show that two full hysterectomies have 
     been performed on women detained at Irwin in the past three 
     years. But firsthand accounts are now emerging from 
     detainees, including Ms. Dowe, who underwent other invasive 
     gynecological procedures that they did not fully understand 
     and, in some cases, may not have been medically necessary.
       At least one lawyer brought the complaints about 
     gynecological care to the attention of the center's top 
     officials in 2018, according to emails obtained by The New 
     York Times, but the outside referrals continued.
       The Times interviewed 16 women who were concerned about the 
     gynecological care they received while at the center, and 
     conducted a detailed review of the medical files of seven 
     women who were able to obtain their records. All 16 were 
     treated by Dr. Mahendra Amin, who practices gynecology in the 
     nearby town of Douglas and has been described by ICE 
     officials as the detention center's ``primary gynecologist.''
       The cases were reviewed by five gynecologists--four of them 
     board-certified and all with medical school affiliations--who 
     found that Dr. Amin consistently overstated the size or risks 
     associated with cysts or masses attached to his patients' 
     reproductive organs. Small or benign cysts do not typically 
     call for surgical intervention, where large or otherwise 
     troubling ones sometimes do, the experts said.
       The doctors stressed that in some cases the medical files 
     might not have been complete and that additional information 
     could potentially shift their analyses. But they noted that 
     Dr. Amin seemed to consistently recommend surgical 
     intervention, even when it did not seem medically necessary 
     at the time and nonsurgical treatment options were available.
       In almost every woman's chart, Dr. Amin listed symptoms 
     such as heavy bleeding with clots and chronic pelvic pain, 
     which could justify surgery. But some of the women said they 
     never experienced or reported those symptoms to him.
       Both the reviewing doctors and all of the women interviewed 
     by The Times raised concerns about whether Dr. Amin had 
     adequately explained the procedures he performed or provided 
     his patients with less invasive alternatives. Spanish-
     speaking women said a nurse who spoke Spanish was only 
     sporadically present during their exams.
       The diagnoses and procedures are ``poorly supported'' and 
     ``not well documented,'' said Dr. Sara Imershein, a clinical 
     professor at George Washington University and the Washington, 
     DC, chair of the American College of Obstetricians and 
     Gynecologists.
       Even if the patients had reported the symptoms recorded by 
     Dr. Amin, ``there would have been many avenues to pursue 
     before rushing to surgery,'' she said. ``Advil for one.''
       ``He is overly aggressive in his treatment and does not 
     explore appropriate medical management before turning to 
     procedures or surgical intervention,'' said Dr. Deborah 
     Ottenheimer, a forensic evaluator and instructor at the Weill 
     Cornell Medical School Human Rights Clinic.
       But the doctors who reviewed the cases noted that 
     aggressive overtreatment is all too common among doctors--
     especially with patients who do not have the resources to 
     seek a second opinion.
       Dr. Ada Rivera, medical director of the ICE Health Service 
     Corps, said in a statement that the whistle-blower's 
     allegations ``raise some very serious concerns that deserve 
     to be investigated quickly and thoroughly.'' She added, ``If 
     there is any truth to these allegations, it is my commitment 
     to make the corrections necessary to ensure we continue to 
     prioritize the health, welfare and safety of ICE detainees.''
       Dr. Amin's lawyer, Scott Grubman, said in a statement that 
     the physician ``strongly disputes any allegations that he 
     treated any patient with anything other than the utmost care 
     and respect.''

[[Page H5647]]

       ``Dr. Amin also strongly disputes that any patient was 
     treated without full informed consent,'' the statement 
     continued. Mr. Grubman said that patient privacy laws 
     prevented him from discussing any specific patient's 
     treatment, but in each case it ``was medically necessary, 
     performed within the standard of care, and done only after 
     obtaining full informed consent.''
       The statement added that Dr. Amin always uses an 
     interpreter when treating patients who do not speak English 
     and ``always attempts to treat his patients with more 
     conservative treatment, including medicine and less invasive 
     procedures, before even recommending surgery,'' which he 
     views as a last resort.
       Independent doctors that provide treatment for ICE 
     detainees are paid for the procedures they perform with 
     Department of Homeland Security funds. Procedures like the 
     ones that Dr. Amin performed are normally billed at thousands 
     of dollars each.
       Dr. Amin's billings had previously come to the attention of 
     federal authorities. In 2013, the Justice Department named 
     him in a civil case alleging that he and several other 
     doctors had overbilled Medicare and Medicaid by, among other 
     things, performing unnecessary procedures on terminal 
     patients and leaving the emergency room staffed by nurses 
     while billing for diagnoses and treatments as if they had 
     been performed by doctors. The case was settled for $520,000 
     with no admission of fault on the part of the defendants.


                    `I could not ask any questions'

       In many cases, Dr. Amin's patients said they were confused 
     about why they ended up being sent to his office in the first 
     place--some after raising medical issues that had nothing to 
     do with gynecology.
       Yuridia, a 36-year-old immigrant from Mexico, sought out a 
     nurse at the center soon after she arrived because she was 
     having pain in her rib after a fight with her abusive ex-
     partner just before she was picked up by ICE. She asked to be 
     identified by her first name because she feared for her 
     safety.
       She was sent for a medical exam at Dr. Amin's office, where 
     she said he began to prepare an ultrasound machine. ``I was 
     assuming they were going to check my rib,'' she said. ``The 
     next thing I know, he's doing a vaginal exam.''
       Dr. Amin recorded in his notes that Yuridia had cysts in 
     her ovaries and scheduled a surgery to remove them. He also 
     wrote that she had complained of heavy menstruation and 
     pelvic pain. She said that she never experienced or reported 
     those conditions and that she had not asked to see a 
     gynecologist.
       Weeks later, she underwent surgery. Pathology reports show 
     that she did not have dangerous cysts, but small ones of the 
     kind that occur naturally in most women and do not call for 
     surgical intervention.
       Yuridia said she had expected only a minor procedure that 
     would be performed vaginally, but she was surprised when she 
     woke up to find three incisions on her abdomen and a piece of 
     skin missing from her genital area.
       ``I woke up and I was alone, and I was in pain and everyone 
     spoke English so I could not ask any questions,'' Yuridia 
     said. Three days later, still sore and recovering, she was 
     deported.
       Yuridia's case bears striking similarities to others that 
     the panel of doctors reviewed. Many of them led to two 
     surgical procedures performed simultaneously: ``dilation and 
     curettage,'' often referred to as a ``D & C,'' which involves 
     inserting tools into a woman's vagina and scraping tissue 
     from the uterus, and laparoscopy, in which three incisions 
     are made to insert a camera into the abdominal cavity to 
     examine or perform procedures on the reproductive organs.
       The cases suggest a pattern of ``excessively aggressive 
     surgical intervention without adequate trial of medical 
     remedies,'' Dr. Ottenheimer said.


                A report reveals longstanding complaints

       It was the Irwin County center's handling of the 
     coronavirus pandemic that inspired Ms. Wooten, the nurse 
     whose whistle-blower complaint was first reported by The 
     Intercept, to come forward about another issue that troubled 
     her: Dr. Amin's surgeries. She said in an interview that she 
     had for years noticed that an inordinate number of women were 
     being referred to Dr. Amin. She said she would hear reports 
     that they had undergone surgeries but that they had no idea 
     why the surgeries were performed.
       ``After they get up from general anesthesia,'' Ms. Wooten 
     said, the women would ask, ``Why'd I have this surgery?''
       ``And I don't have an answer for why,'' she said. ``I am 
     just as shocked as they are. Nobody explained it to them.''
       Data from ICE inspection reports show that the center, 
     which is operated by a private prison company, Lasalle 
     Corrections, refers more than 1,000 detainees a year for 
     outside medical care, far more than most other immigration 
     detention centers of the same size. It is not clear how many 
     of these referrals are for gynecological care. Lasalle 
     Corrections did not respond to requests for comment.
       Concerns from women detained at Irwin emerged long before 
     Ms. Wooten came forward.
       Ms. Dowe, after being told by Dr. Amin that she had a mass 
     the size of a ``cantaloupe'' on her uterus, had reached out 
     in early 2019 to Donald Anthonyson, an immigrant advocate she 
     had met through a fellow detainee. She was asking for help, 
     Mr. Anthonyson said.
       ``She expressed real concerns about going to that doctor,'' 
     he said. ``She was concerned about what was happening to her 
     and what she was hearing from other women.''
       Unlike some of the women who had no gynecological 
     complaints, Ms. Dowe was experiencing intense menstrual 
     cramping, which the doctors who reviewed her case said could 
     sometimes justify the procedure she underwent--but only if 
     the patient understands the options and elects to move 
     forward. Even then, the doctors raised questions about 
     several seemingly healthy and naturally occurring cysts that 
     Dr. Amin might have removed unnecessarily while he was 
     operating on her.
       After the procedure, Dr. Amin wrote in his notes that Ms. 
     Dowe requested a second surgery--a full abdominal 
     hysterectomy and removal of her ovaries.
       But Ms. Dowe insists she never made any such request. A 
     note in her medical records from the detention center appears 
     to corroborate her denial. ``Detainee is requesting a second 
     opinion to have a hysterectomy,'' it reads, ``OB/GYN 
     scheduled hysterectomy and patient refused.''
       Complaints about Dr. Amin had also been raised with senior 
     officials long before Ms. Dowe's case.
       In November 2018, a woman named Nancy Gonzalez Hidalgo was 
     left shaken after several visits with the physician, during 
     which she said he performed rough vaginal ultrasounds and 
     ignored her when she cried out in pain. Ms. Gonzalez 
     Hidalgo's lawyers sent an email to the warden of the center, 
     David Paulk.
       In the email, Erin Argueta, a lawyer at the Southern 
     Poverty Law Center, explained that Ms. Gonzalez Hidalgo's 
     health was worsening because of complications she was 
     experiencing from an earlier miscarriage.
       ``Nancy hesitated to seek medical attention because her 
     last experience with Dr. Amin was so painful and traumatic 
     that she did not want to be sent back to him,'' Ms. Argueta 
     wrote.
       She referred in her email to several previous verbal 
     complaints about Dr. Amin that lawyers had taken to the 
     center's inmates services director, Marteka George. ``Ms. 
     George stated that this was not the first time someone 
     complained about Dr. Amin, and she said that she would look 
     into whether Nancy could see a different provider,'' the 
     lawyer wrote.
       The warden responded twice, stating on Nov. 30 that Ms. 
     Gonzalez Hidalgo had been scheduled for an appointment with 
     an outside provider ``that is unassociated with Dr. Amin.'' 
     The other doctor, Warden Paulk said, was ``reportedly well 
     thought of by his patients.''
       Warden Paulk did not respond to requests for comment.
       Other women who questioned Dr. Amin's care in the past said 
     they had also faced challenges when they tried to seek 
     answers.
       On the morning of Aug. 14, Mileidy Cardentey Fernandez 
     said, there was no interpreter present at the Irwin County 
     Hospital when she was presented with consent forms in English 
     to sign for a procedure she was undergoing that day.
       She asked the technician, ``Spanish, please? Little 
     English.'' The woman urged her to sign the forms--and so she 
     did.
       Afterward, she said, she filled out a form on numerous 
     occasions at the detention center requesting her medical 
     records but got no response.
       ``I wanted to know everything they had done,'' she said. 
     ``I made requests for the biopsy, analyses, and they don't 
     want to give them to me. They said they don't have the 
     results. How can they not have the results?''
       When she was released from detention on Sept. 21, she 
     called her daughter in Virginia and then headed straight to 
     Dr. Amin's clinic with her lawyer to demand her records, 
     which she received.
       Some women said they had managed to avoid surgeries by Dr. 
     Amin but not without facing resistance.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, this is about full or partial sterilization 
and a total lack of consent from the patient. And let's be very clear: 
Even if a procedure or test is medically necessary, a doctor must have 
informed consent from their patient. This is the most basic tenet of 
medical ethics.
  Last weekend, 10 Members of Congress visited the detention center and 
we spoke directly to the women. We saw their pain and shock and horror 
about the irreparable damage that has been done to them and their 
futures.
  I have here letters from dozens of women at the center detailing some 
of these things that they have seen and experienced, including these 
unnecessary medical procedures. To bring their voices directly into 
this Chamber, let me read from one of them.
  A woman married to a U.S. citizen and with children of her own:
  My experience here has been full of fear and terror. It began when I 
asked for medication for my abdomen. My surprise when I was taken to 
the gynecologist, he didn't explain nothing and just told me to lay 
down and inserted something and said I had a cyst the

[[Page H5648]]

size of a nail. I was injected and didn't say for what, and said the 
results would be here in 3 weeks; if not, I would come back. When 
everything that's been happening has come to light, I was never taken 
back thanks to God because, if not, I would have had surgery.
  This resolution is simple. It mandates that a real investigation must 
happen. Even just this morning we had to once again ensure that a woman 
who had this surgery done to her was not once again arrested. We need 
to allow these women to heal as we get this investigation done in the 
speediest of manners.
  Passing this resolution also sends a clear message to doctors 
contracted by the private for-profit incarceration facilities 
everywhere: We will not stand by and allow you to treat people this 
way. We will not stand by and allow history to repeat itself, a 
shameful history of medical abuse targeting Black people, indigenous 
people, people of color, immigrants, poor people, and people with 
disabilities for medical procedures without consent.
  To the women at Irwin, those lucky enough to have been released and 
those who have already been deported: You are brave and resilient. You 
should know that the United States Congress, with the passage of this 
resolution, is saying to you: We see you; we hear you; and we will not 
stop fighting for you.
  I thank my colleagues and coleads of this resolution, Representatives 
Annie Kuster, Sheila Jackson Lee, Sylvia Garcia, and Lois Frankel, for 
introducing this resolution with me that now has the support of 225 
Members of Congress and, also, the Women's Caucus for their tremendous 
attention to this resolution, as well as the Congressional Hispanic 
Caucus that helped lead the codel with the Judiciary Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this resolution, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, my chief of staff is a former naval captain who 
commanded the aircraft carrier USS Constellation in the 1990s. I once 
asked him what was the most important thing he had learned during his 
distinguished naval career, and he said: The first reports are always 
wrong.
  That is why I would urge my friends on the other side of the aisle to 
take a step back and await the investigations that are now underway to 
determine exactly what happened at the Irwin County Detention Center, 
lest they appear in retrospect to have behaved, well, rather 
prematurely and foolishly.
  This resolution affirms allegations that women detained by ICE for 
the crime of illegally crossing the border underwent unwanted, 
unnecessary medical procedures, including full or partial 
hysterectomies and other procedures involving their reproductive organs 
performed without their knowledge or consent.
  Well, if that is true, it is appalling, and those responsible should 
be held fully accountable.
  The acting ICE Director, Tony Pham, said precisely that on September 
18. He said: ``The recent allegations by the independent contracted 
employee raised some very serious concerns that deserve to be 
investigated quickly and thoroughly. ICE welcomes the efforts of both 
the Office of Inspector General as well as the Department of Homeland 
Security's parallel review.
  ``As a former prosecutor, individuals found to have violated our 
policies and procedures should be held accountable. If there is any 
truth to these allegations, it is my commitment to make the corrections 
necessary to ensure that we continue to prioritize the health, welfare, 
and safety of ICE detainees.''
  Of course, this resolution makes no acknowledgment of Mr. Pham's 
statement or of the investigations that are now underway.
  The reality is, at this point, we do not have all the facts.
  We do know that the complaint by the group Project South, which 
instigated the allegations, did not contain testimony from a single 
woman who had a hysterectomy while detained at the Irwin County 
Detention Facility.
  We know that ICE has an annual third-party inspection of its 
detention facilities, including the medical care at those facilities.
  We know that ICE has performance-based national detention standards, 
which include high standards for women's medical care.
  We know that the 2019 third-party inspection conducted by the 
Nakamoto Group found that the Irwin County Detention Center met ICE's 
performance-based national detention standards.
  We know that on September 18 the Associated Press reported: ``The 
AP's review did not find evidence of mass hysterectomies as alleged in 
a widely shared complaint filed by a nurse at the detention center.''
  That is the Associated Press.

                              {time}  0930

  We know that on September 22, The Washington Post reported that since 
2017, only two women in immigration custody were referred to the Irwin 
County Hospital for hysterectomies and that there are no other 
facilities in the region that perform that procedure. ICE reports there 
may have been three. But the attorney for the hospital calls the claims 
that we have just heard demonstrably false. His words, ``demonstrably 
false.''
  We know that on September 15, The Washington Post reported that the 
lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the pro-illegal-immigration 
group ``acknowledged to The Washington Post that she did not speak to 
any women who had a forced sterilization, and said she included the 
allegations in the report with the intention of triggering an 
investigation into whether or not the claims were true.''
  Whether or not the claims were true. Well, we are going to find out, 
and once we have all the facts, we can make rational decisions about 
what to do, but this resolution simply assumes the allegations are true 
and condemns the institution as if they were true. It then calls for 
indefinite postponement of the deportation of any illegal immigrant at 
this facility that has any medical procedure, which I assume would 
include routine medical screenings.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask the House this very simple question: 
Wouldn't it be better to let the investigation take its course, have 
all the facts laid out before us, and then take appropriate actions?
  If the allegations are true, every bit of the indignation expressed 
in this resolution and by my Democratic colleagues would be justified, 
and a united, bipartisan Congress would demand and command redress and 
reform.
  But if the allegations are found not to be true, this House, that is 
already plumbing the depths of public ridicule and derision, will once 
again have diminished its credibility and its moral authority to speak 
out on this or any other issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), my good colleague on the Judiciary 
Committee.
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, for most of the past century, the United 
States has led the world in the promotion of human rights. People from 
all over the world have long come to America seeking refuge and a 
better life. And in our best moments, we welcome them with open arms.
  Yet under the Trump administration, immigrants have been met with 
great hostility. On Trump's watch, children have been separated from 
their families and endured unspeakable trauma in DHS custody.
  In just the past few weeks, new and horrific allegations have emerged 
about the use of forced sterilization on immigrant women by ICE, 
allegations so serious and sickening, that they demand a swift and 
thorough investigation.
  According to one nurse who worked at the Irwin County Detention 
Center in Georgia, immigrant women received unnecessary hysterectomies, 
records were destroyed, and migrants were not tested for COVID-19.
  In the words of one immigrant held at the facility, ``When I met all 
these women who had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental 
concentration camp. It was like they are experimenting with our 
bodies.''
  Mr. Speaker, these allegations are horrifying.
  If true, they are a gross violation of human rights and a violation 
of the

[[Page H5649]]

most basic ethics that medical professionals are sworn to uphold.
  What is more, there is a long history of forced sterilizations, like 
the procedures found in these allegations, being used against people of 
color, religious minorities, prisoners, individuals with disabilities, 
and other vulnerable communities.
  Such procedures are not only wrong, but they rise to the level of 
gross human rights abuses.
  That is why it is so important that these shocking and staggering 
allegations be investigated now and anyone who participated in such 
abuses be held fully accountable.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to end by thanking all of my colleagues, but in 
particular, my friend Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a champion for 
human rights here and around the world, someone who has led this effort 
and authored H. Res. 1153 to condemn forced medical procedures on 
individuals without their full, informed concept. I thank her for her 
leadership and for this powerful message that we are sending to ICE and 
to the world that we will not tolerate this kind of behavior.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the resolution.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Johnson), my good colleague, who was on the delegation 
with us.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of this 
resolution offered by my colleague, my dear colleague, Pramila Jayapal 
and others. I thank her for her hard work.
  Halloween is getting close, but it is Halloween every day at the 
Irwin County Detention Center.
  Many of the police officers just outside the facility when we arrived 
were not wearing masks, and it was only the day before our visit that 
detainees were issued masks. Prior to that, many had worn the mask they 
had had on when they were first booked into the facility many months 
ago. Some had been wearing old panties as masks.
  But the horror stories were the experiences these women told of being 
subjected to gynecological surgery, intrusions into their body absent 
their informed consent.
  As these women spoke, their eyes revealed the horror of what had been 
done to them. Many clutched or rubbed their midsection, still in 
physical pain as they recounted what they had been through and the 
mental and physical pain they still endure after being traumatized by 
Dr. Amin.
  The Irwin County Detention Center is managed by a for-profit 
corporation. That industry's stock went through the roof when Trump was 
elected. He has delivered on their investment, and it has been open 
season on detainees ever since.
  These companies rake in billions in taxpayer dollars to house, 
clothe, and feed detainees. Some of the women had been issued 
deportation orders 6, 8 months, even a year ago, but they are still 
being detained, and taxpayers foot the bill so that corporations can 
maximize huge profits. They profit by paying slave wages to detainees 
to cook and clean the facility. They profit off of phone calls in the 
commissary.
  Somebody is also profiting off of churning these women's bodies for 
unnecessary medical procedures, paid for by the taxpayers.
  This is not right. It is immoral to profit off of human suffering and 
misery.
  This horror show must end. We need to shut it down and shut it down 
now.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Garcia), my distinguished co-lead on this resolution, a 
member of the Judiciary Committee.
  Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from 
Washington (Ms. Jayapal) for yielding me the time.
  This weekend, several of my colleagues and I visited the Irwin County 
ICE Detention Center, and what we saw and heard was outrageous and 
heartbreaking.
  We heard stories directly from women who were subjected to 
unnecessary and unwanted medical procedures without their consent. And 
yet yesterday, some of our friends across the aisle suggested that some 
of this may be made up, that this is not real.
  Well, here I have some statements I received directly from the 
detainees this past weekend, and I am going to read from these, written 
in their own hands, for the Record. They are in Spanish, but they will 
be translated into English.
  This letter was signed by 24 detainees. The women said:
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
  They do not understand what is happening to their body, nor what they 
did to their body.
  ``No entienden que esta pasando con su cuerpo, ni que hicieron con su 
cuerpo''.
  Mr. Speaker, imagine if you were put under in surgery and were not 
told what was being done to your body, and you went through the 
surgery. This is what is happening to some of these women.
  They went on to say:
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
  ``They `told' them they were going to perform a study and they 
deceived them. Because a surgery room should not be a school.''
  ``Le vamos a hacer un estudio les `dijeron' y las habeis enganado. 
Porque una sala de cirugias no debe ser una escuela''.
  Now, that is alarming if it is true. They were performing a study, 
and they deceived them. Because the surgery room should not be a 
school.
  Mr. Speaker, imagine if you were told they were doing a study on your 
body and not being told what for or what any side effects may be. 
Nothing, nada, is what these women were told.
  They also said:
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
  ``Why are we being punished? You send us to a `crazy' person that 
mutilates bodies. And they deport us so that we don't say anything.''
  ``rPor que nos castigan mas? Nos mandan con un `loco', despiadado que 
mutila cuerpos. Y nos deportan para que nadie diga nada. . .'', imagine 
if you were told they were doing a study on your body and not being 
told what for or what any side effects may be. Nothing, nada, is what 
these women were told.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, again, imagine having your body mutilated and then 
being deported to have you silenced. This is what is happening to some 
of these women.
  When I asked three of the detainees I spoke to if they ever got an 
explanation of any of this in their own language, if they had the 
procedure and their options explained to them, and if they understood 
the chilling effect of these surgeries, all three of them laughed 
almost in unison at me, and they responded:
  (English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
  ``Of course not.''
  ``Claro que no.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair reminds the gentlewoman that she 
will need to provide the Clerk a translation for the Record.
  Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Mr. Speaker, many women have been violated in 
the most horrific way imaginable. One relayed having a doctor, without 
explanation, putting his hands in her vagina without gloves. That is an 
assault in my book, and we need to recognize it as such.
  Many remain confused about what was done to their bodies. Some had 
life-altering surgeries performed on them without consenting or truly 
understanding the long-term repercussions on their reproductive health.
  These actions recall a time in our history when Black and Brown women 
were subjected to forced sterilizations and medical experiments.
  This cannot be allowed to happen in America today. We can never let 
it happen ever again.
  This resolution, Mr. Speaker, in my mind, is just a first step in 
getting justice for these women.
  We need to shut down the Irwin ICE Detention Center pending all 
investigations. The detainees should be released to their families or 
sponsors so they can get a complete medical review.
  We must get to the bottom of this and make sure that it is stopped. 
And the FBI must investigate LaSalle Corrections and its contractors, 
especially the medical staff and the doctor, for any conflict of 
interest, any self-dealing, and any possible fraudulent billing.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the most horrific example of human rights 
violations I have ever seen, and sadly, it is happening here in our 
very own country, and it must be stopped.

[[Page H5650]]

  

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Espaillat), my good colleague, who was also on the codel with 
us.
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Nadler, I thank Ms. 
Jayapal for advancing this important resolution.
  Last week I visited the Irwin Detention Center in Georgia along with 
a dozen of my colleagues.
  I have visited some of these ICE detention centers before, and I have 
seen the horrible conditions that immigrants and refugees face across 
the country. We all remember the unspeakable stories about how children 
were separated from their mothers and fathers and how they cried for 
them in the middle of the night and how they were separated thousands 
of miles apart.
  Mr. Speaker, I came to the United States from the Dominican Republic 
as a young boy knowing this Nation was a beacon of hope and 
opportunity.
  Never in my wildest dream did I ever think that I would be a Member 
of Congress. But I also never had the nightmare that I would be 
summoned, that I would be asked to investigate this horror story that 
has manifested itself at Irwin.
  While there, I spoke to a handful of women whose stories made me so 
angry about this country, the country that I had grown to love, angry 
about how our laws have been twisted by a sick administration that 
treats innocent women so cruelly, women who want nothing more than the 
same freedom and opportunities that I once sought myself, women who put 
their lives on the line to get here.

                              {time}  0945

  I spoke to a woman from the DR who crossed el Canal de la Mona with 
30 men and 3 other women, 7 days in the Caribbean Sea only to have, 
later on, her health and well-being put in great risk by the U.S. 
Government itself.
  One of them told me that she was treated like an animal, that the 
appropriate instruments that needed to be used for her tests were not 
used, that there were invasive and aggressive tests. She told me that 
the doctor stuck his hand on her private parts, Mr. Speaker.
  I am told one woman has been bleeding for more than 2 weeks.
  Let's shut down this center. Let's arrest the doctors and anybody 
that was involved in perpetrating this crime.
  Let's shut down Irwin right now, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Garcia), my distinguished colleague.
  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of 
Congresswoman Jayapal's resolution to condemn unwanted and unnecessary 
medical procedures without the full, informed consent of individuals.
  From the 1930s to the 1970s, Puerto Rican women were sterilized in 
order to control population growth. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, 
anti-immigrant sentiment resulted in the highest number of recorded 
state-sanctioned sterilizations of Mexican women in California.
  Now, in 2020, we learn of allegations that immigrant women in ICE 
custody are being subjected to forced hysterectomies.
  The stories we have heard from Georgia's Irwin County Detention 
Center are horrendous but, sadly, not new. They are a reminder of our 
country's dark history of forcing women of color to be sterilized.
  Robbing Black and Brown women of full autonomy over their bodies and 
reproductive freedoms is white supremacy in action. In any other 
country, we would denounce these horrific incidents as violations of 
human rights.
  I stand with my colleagues in strong support of the resolution to 
condemn these atrocities and hold those involved accountable.
  I am disgusted but not surprised. This administration has dehumanized 
immigrants time and time again. Those seeking asylum have been stripped 
of their dignity, and some are now scarred for life. This is a 
violation of human rights, a violation of human dignity, and an 
atrocious violation of privacy and safety.
  What happened in Georgia is criminal and must be condemned so that it 
may never happen again. I strongly urge adoption of this resolution.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from California (Mr. Ruiz), who is a doctor himself and 
provided very, very important feedback on the codel as he came with us.
  Mr. RUIZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Judiciary Committee and 
the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for organizing the trip to Irwin 
County Detention Center. I was one of those who went to witness 
firsthand what was going on.
  I want to thank Representative Jayapal for this resolution and her 
leadership in this matter.
  As a medical and public health expert, I have found three gross 
categories of violations in Irwin County Detention Center.
  One is there were not sufficient precautions to prevent COVID-19 from 
causing an outbreak in the facilities. There was only one mask issued 
upon arrival, and the second mask was not issued until the day before 
we arrived, knowing we were going to arrive. Some women were there for 
6, 7 months.
  The second is that there was a COVID-19 positive patient in the 
facility, yet at the medical quarters, nobody was wearing an N95 mask, 
which could put the staff and other people in jeopardy. The COVID-19 
patient was reported to be in isolation during the time that we were 
there.
  Furthermore, the second problem in public health is the lack of 
hygiene maintenance in the facility. There were reports that the 
curtains were infested with mold. There was mold in the showers. 
Clothing hadn't been washed. They were issued sweatpants and 
sweatshirts; they were visibly dirty and torn.
  When I inspected the showers myself, I saw that, in fact, there was 
mold in the showers. The curtains were replaced the day before or 2 
days before we had arrived. So that is a problem in the face of human 
dignity and also in requiring personal hygiene to stay safe from COVID-
19.
  Furthermore, going back to the first category, I forgot to mention 
that the bunk beds were very small, and they were only 3 feet apart in 
their sleeping quarters, so that was also not following CDC 
recommendations.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from California an 
additional 1 minute.
  Mr. RUIZ. In terms of the third violation, which is the most 
outstanding and outrageous violation, it was that procedures were done 
without the women's informed consent. There were gynecological 
procedures, as was mentioned: total hysterectomy; partial hysterectomy; 
most of them were oophorectomies; most of them were cystectomies.
  But the point here is that whenever you have any gynecological 
procedure, that can result in scarring, future pain, possible chronic 
pain, and also infertility. Therefore, you need informed consent.
  It is medical practice to have informed consent, which requires an 
explanation of your disease, of the illness, of the procedure, 
including risks and any alternative options, including the option of 
doing nothing, in the language that the patient understands.
  Not doing so, not documenting it, is a violation of that informed 
consent. Violating informed consent and putting a blade to a woman's 
body, without her understanding or her informed consent, is an assault.

  That is why we need fully to condemn this practice. That is why we 
need to fully investigate through the inspector general, through the 
FBI, through the Georgia medical and surgeon license board to ensure 
that this doesn't happen, that it is not happening in other private 
detention facilities throughout the country, in rural areas where 
perhaps they think they might get away with it because, after all, 
these are very disempowered women without very strong advocacy in those 
locations.
  I am very thankful for the lawyers, for those that brought this to 
light,

[[Page H5651]]

that have empowered the voices, including a 22-year-old woman who now 
will never be able to have children.
  I support this resolution to send a very strong message to all 
facilities and all doctors that every woman requires fully informed 
consent before any procedure.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), my distinguished and wonderful colleague who 
has been on the front lines of this issue since it started and has 
already provided so much to the women who have been detained at Irwin.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, we awoke this morning to daunting news 
in this Nation, and I know that the Nation prays.
  I want to thank the gentlewoman from Washington for her distinguished 
service, and our fellow coleaders and cosponsors, Congresswomen Kuster, 
Garcia, and Frankel, and, really, all of those who rose in the 
immediacy of our visit to be able to sign on to H. Res. 1153.
  In the spirit of our late friend and colleague, America is better 
than this. America is better than this.
  First, to my Republican friends, I hope that they will rise today and 
vote for this legislation. If they read it, they will understand there 
is no condemnation of ICE. There is accountability that each and every 
one of us who serves the people of the United States is obligated to 
do. We are obligated to be accountable. We are obligated to treat every 
human being with decency.
  Though this is a circumstance that pained my heart, am I reminded of 
the man that killed nine at Mother Emanuel Church and was taken to get 
a burger before he was taken to jail because he said he was hungry.
  No one seems to condemn that. It certainly hurt my heart. Nine people 
of faith praying were killed, murdered in their church, and left lying 
in blood. But he was taken to get a burger.
  Why should these women be treated any less?
  This resolution, why is it so intimidating? All we say is, condemning 
the performance of ``unwanted, unnecessary medical procedures on 
individuals without their full, informed consent,'' recognizing that 
``everyone deserves to control their own reproductive choices and make 
informed choices about their bodies.'' We have been saying that all 
along.
  My friends on the other side of the aisle, I hope they join in that. 
They want a singular path. We say people with their God, women with 
their God, their family, and their medical professional.
  Acknowledges that ``further accountability, oversight, and 
transparency is necessary to protect people in the custody'' of DHS and 
ICE, to make sure these women are not deported as we are in the midst 
of an inspector general's report.
  Thankful to the Judiciary Committee, the chairman, and the colleagues 
who led this letter of over 180-plus Members. That IG's investigation 
is proceeding, but they need to have those witnesses, and this 
resolution is crucial because it lays out intimate facts that we heard 
personally from women.
  I don't know whenever--I know that I was here for debates on partial-
birth abortion. That is obviously not what it was. It was a medical 
procedure to save the mother's life. But when have we ever discussed 
the private examinations of women, how private we are in order to get 
America to understand how this was?
  Women should rise up, not respecting their party. They should rise up 
when they know that procedures were done without consent--physically 
touched, could not speak English. All women seemed to get the same 
diagnosis: remove the Fallopian tube.
  Pauline--I will not call her last name--I sat with her for an hour 
and a half, and she described what happened: sedated, did not know, 
told after she came out of the sedation, broke down in tears. I pay 
tribute to her. And almost about to be on the verge of deportation, a 
witness.
  The whistleblower, a mother of five children, single mother of five 
children, she needed her job. Demoted because she had the courage to 
talk about examinations, surgeries.
  Only women would understand examinations without lubricant, young 
women in the prime of fertility, crying.
  Beds--this is a private center contracted by the government. Beds 
that looked like they had been there since the 1800s. These were metal 
beds. I have never seen a bunk bed this thin. This is a place waiting 
for COVID-19 because they are so close. The beds themselves are 2 feet 
to 4 feet away.
  You know what their COVID-19 practice is for protection? It is to 
have one head this way and one head that way.
  There are no masks. The air is going.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Texas an 
additional 30 seconds.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. You have no way to protect these women in this 
crowded scenario.
  There is a men's site. By the way, this is a for-profit center, so 
they take U.S. Marshals individuals. They take county individuals. It 
is just a potpourri of persons.
  They have women who have been there for 3-plus years.
  I don't blame the workers or even the agencies, the subagency. It is 
the policies of this administration dealing with immigrants who are 
human beings and have due process rights accordingly, as being in the 
United States.
  I leave you with this: Please pass H. Res. 1153 because this is drawn 
by this woman who says liberty because we are daughters, we are 
mothers, we are human beings. The Nation is better than this.
  Vote for H. Res. 1153 to stop these procedures and stop these prisons 
from taking advantage of us.
  Mr. Speaker, as a leader of this resolution and a senior member of 
the House Judiciary and Homeland Committees, I rise in strong support 
of H. Res. 1153, ``Condemning Unwanted, Unnecessary Medical Procedures 
on Individuals Without Their Full, Informed Consent''.
  First and foremost, I would like to thank my fellow co-leads of this 
resolution, Representatives Jayapal, Kuster, Garcia, and Frankel as 
well as all 224 members who have supported this resolution.
  H. Res. 1153 addresses the recent allegations of improper medical 
care of detained women in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, 
Georgia by: condemning the performance of unwanted, unnecessary medical 
procedures on individuals without their full, informed consent; 
recognizing that everyone deserves to control their own reproductive 
choices and make informed choices about their bodies; and acknowledges 
that further accountability, oversight, and transparency is necessary 
to protect people in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs.
  The resolution also calls on the Department of Homeland Security 
(DHS) to pause the removal of any individual who has received any 
medical procedure at the Irwin County Detention Center as well as allow 
individuals who may have experienced an unnecessary or nonconsensual 
procedure to have immediate access to adequate, safe, and consensual 
medical treatment.
  By passing this resolution today, DHS must also comply with all 
investigations and records request related to investigations about the 
Irwin County Detention Center, ensure affected individuals are able to 
freely participate in any investigations, and hold all individuals 
involved in perpetrating these instances of medical impropriety 
accountable.
  On September 14, 2020, Project South filed an explosive complaint to 
the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General.
  The complaint alleged unsafe, unsanitary conditions, as well as cited 
significant numbers of full and partial hysterectomies performed on 
detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center without the full and 
informed consent of the patients.
  On September 16, 2020, I was alerted to the DHS' decision to fast-
track the deportation of a young woman, Pauline Binam, who was a victim 
of improper medical care at the Irwin County Detention Center.
  Pauline is a strong, kind, and lovely young woman who has lived in 
the United States since she was two years old.
  Since 2017, Pauline had been held in DHS custody and was scheduled to 
be deported to Cameroon.
  That is three years of not being able to hold her child, embrace her 
family, or celebrate milestones and holidays with loved ones.
  In August 2019, while being detained at the Irwin County Detention 
Center, Pauline underwent a procedure commonly known as a D&C, which 
she had been told that it was for the purpose of getting rid of the 
cysts on her ovaries.

[[Page H5652]]

  According to the Mayo Clinic, a D&C procedure is used for the 
following medical reasons: Clearing out tissues that remain in the 
uterus after a miscarriage or abortion to prevent infection or heavy 
bleeding; Removing a tumor that forms instead of a normal pregnancy; 
Treating excessive bleeding after delivery by clearing out any placenta 
that remains in the uterus; or Removing cervical or uterine polyps, 
which are usually benign.
  However, when Pauline woke up from the anesthesia, she was informed 
that the doctor had removed her fallopian tube during the surgery.
  This medical procedure, which substantially impacts Pauline's 
potential to have more children, was performed without her consent and 
has forever altered Pauline's life.
  And Pauline is not the only victim.
  Numerous allegations of medical abuse at the Irwin County Detention 
Center have come to light over the past few days and weeks.
  These shocking claims of medical malpractice reflect widespread 
medical neglect in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 
detention system.
  It is imperative that we, as Members of Congress, fulfill our duty to 
the American people and get to the bottom of what happened to the women 
being held at the Irwin County Detention Center.
  We cannot wait.
  The women in this facility cannot wait.
  We must seek out justice for these women immediately, and that starts 
by voting to pass this resolution.
  Furthermore, Pauline and the other women who have shared their 
stories of these violating and nonconsensual medical procedures must 
have the ability to contribute to this investigation.
  Had I not intervened and stopped Pauline's deportation when I did, we 
would have lost a key witness to the investigation; someone who is 
vital to shining a light on these cruel, and immoral medical procedures 
performed without full and informed consent.
  We cannot be known as a country that violates our own laws.
  Just because someone is an immigrant, is undocumented, or being 
detained for deportation, it does not mean that they can be denied 
their due process rights under the laws of this land and under the 
constitution of the United States of America.
  Last weekend, I, along with several other Members of Congress, had 
the opportunity to visit the Irwin County Detention Center.
  During that trip, I was able to speak with multiple detainees and 
hear about the living circumstances and quality of care surrounding 
their detention at the facility.
  It is no secret that the United States has had a long history of 
women being denied reproductive rights and being violated medically, 
especially women of color.
  When you perform procedures that disallow a woman from making her own 
choices or deny her from making a choice, you are violating her very 
humanity, and I will not stand idly by and allow it to continue.
  As a woman and a mother, I am appalled and horrified by what has been 
happening to these women at the Irwin County Detention Center, and I 
believe that we owe it to them to investigate their claims fully.
  I urge my colleagues to vote with their conscience and pass H. Res. 
1153 today.

                              {time}  1000

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Washington has 1 minute 
remaining.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, John Adams' famous observation bears repeating here 
today.
  He said: ``Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, 
our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter 
the state of facts and evidence.''
  We have heard a great deal from the other side about their passions, 
but we don't have all the facts. That is what the ongoing 
investigations will provide us.
  The facts that stubbornly present themselves on this matter here 
today are that the AP found no evidence of mass hysterectomies at this 
facility. The hospital that performs them for the facility reports that 
two have been performed on ICE detainees since 2017. The hospital tells 
us the allegations are demonstrably false--demonstrably--in other 
words, they can prove it. The attorney who made the allegations that 
have given rise to this debate today admitted to The Washington Post 
that they were not based on any evidence and that she included them 
``whether or not true'' to prompt the investigation.
  All the wishes and inclinations on the other side to abolish ICE, 
repeal our immigration laws, throw our borders open, all the other 
things that have been proposed from time to time and all of the 
vitriolic passions we have heard from the other side today cannot alter 
the state of facts and evidence.
  More facts and evidence will be presented to us as the investigation 
unfolds, and that will tell us exactly what happened at this facility. 
I would strongly advise my friends to await the investigation to inform 
us and to guide us.
  My Democratic colleagues are fond of saying that we must always 
follow the data. Mr. Speaker, I now commend to them their own advice.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, let me close by saying to my good colleague across the 
aisle that, when he says that first reports are always wrong, let me 
ask, is that like the first reports of family separation or kids in 
cages?
  When my colleague says to let the investigation continue, that is 
exactly what this resolution does. It specifically defines the ability 
to keep these women who will be witnesses in this investigation in the 
United States. In fact, just last week we had to, once again, make sure 
that a woman was not deported who had her left fallopian tube removed, 
and it was confirmed by independent gynecologists.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I really believe that we crafted this resolution in 
a way that it could truly be a bipartisan resolution and that protects 
the ability for this investigation to continue with all the facts on 
the table, and we are grateful that there is an investigation going.
  But in order to have a proper investigation, we need to have these 
witnesses here. We need to make sure that the women who have had these 
procedures are actually able to get care. And we need to make sure that 
this House says very clearly, in any situation, that these unnecessary, 
unwanted medical procedures, if true, done without consent and 
knowledge, are wrong.
  That is all this resolution does.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues on the other side will vote ``yes'' 
with us on this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 1164, the previous question is ordered 
on the resolution and on the preamble, as amended.
  The question is on the resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3 of House Resolution 
965, the yeas and nays are ordered.
  Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question 
are postponed.

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