As Mother’s Day Approaches, Migrant Advocates Demand Accountability for Reproductive Injustices by Border Agencies

Nearly 900 humanitarian advocacy groups and individuals have signed a petition calling for border agencies to treat and better care for people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing.

The signatories — which include Jewish Family Service of San Diego, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, and the American Civil Liberties Union — have circulated a petition in light of growing evidence of reproductive injustices committed by Customs and Border Protection, calling for better care of a particularly vulnerable population.

The coalition has called for changes since 2020, when an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General confirmed the mistreatment of a 27-year-old woman who was forced to give birth at the Chula Vista Border Patrol Station. 

“Four years after we first demanded accountability for CBP’s horrific mistreatment of pregnant people in its custody, the agency has still failed to take meaningful action to protect the well-being of this vulnerable population,” said staff attorney at UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy Monika Langarica in a statement.

“People with reproductive health needs should be in the care of their communities, not subjected to inhumane conditions in CBP custody. “We continue to demand common sense solutions to ensure pregnant, postpartum and nursing people are treated with dignity and fairness and that the traumatic experience of our client who was forced to give birth in a Border Patrol station never repeats.”

“It is well past time that CBP strictly limit its detention of pregnant, postpartum and nursing persons and their families to the minimum time necessary,” added Kate Clark, Esq., senior director of immigration services at Jewish Family Service of San Diego, operator of the San Diego Rapid Response Network Migrant Shelter Services.

“This year, as many people prepare to celebrate the mother figures in their life on Mother’s Day, we hope that Acting Commissioner Miller and his team consider the mothers in CBP custody, and finally implement the desperately needed measures we have been calling for.” 

The Mother’s Day petition to CBP Commissioner Miller urges the agency to strictly limit its detention of people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing, and their families, to the minimum time necessary to process them for release to their networks of care in the United States.

People who wish to support this effort are encouraged to add their signature to the petition by May 30. An updated petition will be sent on May 31.