US: Why are immigrant women having needless medical procedures?

On Wednesday, May 26 at 19:30GMT:
Last September, a nurse at an immigrant detention facility in the US filed a whistleblower complaint alleging medical abuse and neglect. That complaint was the spark for ‘No Consent’, a new investigative film from Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines.

Dawn Wooten, a nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center in rural Georgia, says management downplayed coronavirus concerns and did not supply staff and detainees with much-needed protective gear.

Wooten also says several women were pressured to undergo unnecessary gynaecological procedures. One of those women, Jaromy Navarro, says she was deported after speaking out. The 28-year-old Mexican immigrant has been living in the US since she was seven, and is now fighting to return home and reunite with her two children.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week ordered US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to terminate the contract with the Irwin County Detention Center as soon as possible. One hundred and fourteen detainees are still there.

In this episode of The Stream, we discuss life at the facility, the women’s fight for justice and ask whether US immigration policy under the Biden administration is making it any easier.

In this episode of The Stream, we are joined by:
Jaromy Floriano Navarro
Survivor of Medical Abuse

Setareh Ghandehari, @DetentionWatch
Advocacy Director

Elora Mukherjee
Professor of Law, Columbia University