7 days ago
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Posted On: October 29th 2026, 04:55 pm
“Imagine having a child dead in my womb for three days.”
Iris Monterroso-Lemus was around 18 weeks pregnant, detained at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, when she noticed her baby's movements slowing. She spent days begging for medical care, she said, but guards only yelled at her or dismissed her pleas. On April 29, three days after the movement stopped, officials took her to a hospital, where she was shackled to the bed and delivered her stillborn son while ICE agents looked on. Her fiance, Gary Bivens, a U.S. citizen, learned of the loss when the hospital called to ask what he wanted to do with the remains. Bivens now sleeps next to his son's urn each night. On May 9, Monterroso-Lemus was deported to Guatemala, the same day she was scheduled for her first postpartum follow-up.
ICE documented at least 18 miscarriages between January and September of 2025, then stopped making the data public. Between Jan. 1, 2025, and Feb. 16, 2026, there were at least 498 bookings of pregnant, postpartum, and nursing immigrants; at least 363 were deported.
Isabel Ravenna (@isabelravenna) reports more on this story at the link in our bio.
Iris Monterroso-Lemus was around 18 weeks pregnant, detained at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, when she noticed her baby's movements slowing. She spent days begging for medical care, she said, but guards only yelled at her or dismissed her pleas. On April 29, three days after the movement stopped, officials took her to a hospital, where she was shackled to the bed and delivered her stillborn son while ICE agents looked on. Her fiance, Gary Bivens, a U.S. citizen, learned of the loss when the hospital called to ask what he wanted to do with the remains. Bivens now sleeps next to his son's urn each night. On May 9, Monterroso-Lemus was deported to Guatemala, the same day she was scheduled for her first postpartum follow-up.
ICE documented at least 18 miscarriages between January and September of 2025, then stopped making the data public. Between Jan. 1, 2025, and Feb. 16, 2026, there were at least 498 bookings of pregnant, postpartum, and nursing immigrants; at least 363 were deported.
Isabel Ravenna (@isabelravenna) reports more on this story at the link in our bio.
Comments (5)
6 days agocharleeremitz
It’s really reminding me of Black mothers coming into deliver their children and being tested for crack and then arrested
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