The Trump administration is planning to detain immigrants at a Georgia jail that became known for allegations that women detained there were subjected to non-consensual gynecological procedures, multiple sources told The Intercept.
An Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokesperson confirmed to The Intercept that the agency will be using the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, but the official could not say whether detentions there had already begun. Attorneys and advocates familiar with ICE’s operations in the state said the agency had started to temporarily detain people at the facility on Friday, citing communication with ICE officials in Georgia.
Irwin drew nationwide attention in the fall of 2020, when a number of detained women and a nurse-turned-whistleblower accused the facility of medical misconduct. After months of backlash, the Biden administration stopped detaining immigrant women there in 2021, and the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations embarked on an 18-month investigation. Their 2022 report found that “female detainees appear to have been subjected to excessive, invasive, and often unnecessary gynecological procedures” and that there appeared to be “repeated failures” to secure informed consent for medical procedures for immigrant women detained at Irwin.
The allegations also set off court battles, brought both by detained women at Irwin and a doctor who worked at the facility. Fourteen women sued ICE and Irwin officials over the allegations in 2021, and at least 40 women testified to medical misconduct, including non-consensual gynecological procedures. After all the plaintiffs were released in 2021, a federal judge dismissed many of their claims in 2024 on procedural grounds. Early this year, the lawsuit was settled with no admission of liability.
A Georgia judge found last year that statements accusing a doctor at Irwin of performing “mass hysterectomies” were false in a defamation case against a news organization. The Senate report found the claims of mass hysterectomies could not be substantiated, but did underscore that other gynecological procedures on immigrant women appeared to have been conducted without proper consent.
The use of the facility set off alarms for immigration advocates and a former Department of Homeland Security civil rights official, who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“It’s inhumane. It’s so bad,” said the official, who previously investigated the conditions at Irwin. Using the facility to detain immigrants again, they added, “would be an absolute mistake.”
An immigration attorney and a person familiar with the developments told The Intercept that both women and men under ICE custody would be detained at the facility on a temporary basis for only 72 hours. The ICE spokesperson said the agency could not yet confirm those details.
ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, did not provide a statement by time of publication.
The Trump administration’s use of Irwin comes as the White House pressures ICE and its partner agencies to speed up arrests to support President Donald Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda.