Pregnant Asylum Seeker Forced To Carry Heavy Loads in ICE Detention Before Bleeding Sent Her to Hospital

A 35-year-old Nicaraguan asylum seeker was subjected to forced manual labour and denied essential prenatal healthcare while detained in an American immigration facility, ultimately suffering a miscarriage while shackled to a hospital bed, human rights monitors revealed.

The woman, identified publicly as Anabell, was arrested on 25 February 2026 after attending a routine immigration check-in and subsequently held for eight months at the Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, Kentucky.

According to comprehensive investigative findings published by Amnesty International on 2 November 2026, detention staff forced the pregnant mother of three to lift heavy objects despite documented complaints of severe abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding.

Medical personnel at an outside emergency room confirmed the loss of her pregnancy in late March, yet custodial officers returned her to the detention facility, where she was repeatedly placed in solitary confinement rather than provided follow-up gynaecological treatment.

A federal judge formally ruled Anabell's arrest unlawful, securing her release on 30 October, yet immigration authorities continue to withhold her medical records despite formal requests from congressional representatives and human rights advocates demanding institutional transparency. Amnesty says ICE has refused requests for her medical records.

Arrested After a Routine Check-in

Anabell, who is the mother of three, learned she was pregnant at a detention centre in Newport, Kentucky, after two positive tests, according to Amnesty. 'It was a surprise,' she said of finding out she was expecting, according to Reason.

The Guardian, which first reported her story in September, said she was held at the Campbell County detention centre in Newport.

After two positive pregnancy tests, she received no confirmatory blood test, no prenatal vitamins and no ultrasound appointment, according to the Guardian's reporting as summarised by Fierce by mitú. Her pregnancy meals typically consisted of an extra peanut butter sandwich and a small carton of milk, the Guardian reported.

'I am scared for the baby,' she wrote in an emergency request in Spanish, according to the Guardian's reporting.

Amnesty says she reportedly received no prenatal care and no prenatal vitamins while in custody. In its latest statement, the group said the forced lifting caused significant pain and bleeding that required hospital treatment.

Heavy Lifting, Then Hospital

Staff at the facility reportedly made Anabell carry heavy objects even as she suffered severe pain and vaginal bleeding, according to an earlier Amnesty urgent action.

In late March, she submitted an urgent medical request describing severe bleeding and pain. Staff then took her to an outside hospital for a suspected miscarriage, Amnesty said.

At the emergency room, she was told she had miscarried, Reason reported. According to the Guardian, she learned she had lost the pregnancy while shackled to a hospital bed, watched by three immigration officers, with a Spanish interpreter on the phone. 'All I could do was cry,' she said.

The emergency doctor recommended follow-up women's health care, but she did not receive check-ups afterwards, the Guardian reported.

The Guardian also reported that her hormone levels suggested the pregnancy loss began before the heavy bleeding. Medical experts have cautioned that it is difficult to determine the cause of an individual miscarriage or attribute it solely to detention conditions, and Amnesty's account of the lifting does not establish what caused her loss. 'I don't know what is going to happen to me,' Anabell said.

After she returned from hospital, Anabell was placed in solitary confinement at least twice, Amnesty said.

Her lawyers last spoke to her on 9 September, when they described her physical and mental health as declining. She had reported pain, numbness, vomiting and hair loss.

'Anabell should have never been detained and must be immediately released,' Amnesty said in its September appeal.

Released, but Records Still Withheld

A judge later ruled that her arrest was unlawful, and Anabell was released on 30 October after about eight months in detention, according to Amnesty.

Her fight over what happened inside has not ended. Her lawyers requested her medical records twice in April and again in June, and members of Congress asked for them in July. The facility refused each time, Amnesty said.

Without those records, Anabell cannot fully understand the treatment she received while pregnant in custody. 'ICE must immediately release those records,' Amnesty said.

Pregnancy in ICE Detention

Anabell's case comes amid growing scrutiny of how ICE treats pregnant detainees. At least 498 pregnant, postpartum and nursing people were booked into and released from ICE custody between January 2025 and February 2026, Reason reported, citing Forbes. That compares with 158 in the first half of fiscal year 2024.

ICE recorded 18 miscarriages, a count of recorded cases rather than all pregnancy losses, during the first nine months of Donald Trump's second term, according to reporting by the Guardian cited by Reason. The agency's miscarriage data then stops on 3 October 2025, and ICE confirmed it had no figures for October 2025 to June 2026.

The Department of Homeland Security disputes that it has lost count, saying ICE 'tracks miscarriage data and reports the information on a monthly basis'. A DHS spokesperson has said pregnant detainees receive 'the best healthcare many of these individuals have received in their entire lives'.

ICE's own policy, Directive 11032.4, has been in place since July 2021. It generally bars the agency from detaining pregnant, postpartum or nursing immigrants on civil grounds unless the law requires it or exceptional circumstances apply, and it requires ongoing health monitoring for those who are held.

Anabell did not know she was pregnant when ICE arrested her, but the directive was in force throughout her detention, including after her pregnancy was confirmed. She is now free, but she still does not have the records that would show what happened to her.