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California House Dems demand answers about treatment of pregnant migrant minors in federal custody
A gated building at Urban Strategies, a facility that holds unaccompanied minor immigrants under contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, in San Benito, Texas.
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Patricia Lim
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KUT News
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Nine Democratic House members from California are demanding information about how the Trump administration is treating unaccompanied migrant children who are pregnant and in federal custody. They’ve signed a letter, along with 39 other House Democrats, to Trump officials expressing their concern that the girls are not receiving adequate medical care or access to abortion.
The letter comes in the wake of an investigation by the California and Texas Newsrooms, public media collaboratives in those states. LAist is part of The California Newsroom.
The joint investigation found that the federal government is detaining pregnant migrant girls in a single group home in South Texas. Doctors and reproductive-health experts interviewed for the investigation said prenatal care is severely limited in that region.
The letter says the detention violates federal regulations because the children are “entitled to the full range of medical care, including reproductive health care.”
Rep. Gil Cisneros, who represents the central San Gabriel Valley, says he worries that pregnant migrants who are apprehended in California will be put at risk if they’re sent to a part of Texas that is short on obstetric care. Of particularly concern: High-risk pregnancies are common among minors.
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“If they were in California," he said, "they would be able to have more choices of the type of health care that they would get when it comes to reproductive health care.”
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Rep. Judy Chu, who represents the West San Gabriel Valley, wrote in a statement that “this administration is so intent on restricting abortion that it is using immigration detention as a tool to control these girls’ bodies.”
Mark Betancourt is a regular contributor to The California Newsroom.
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