Immigration Detention and Coerced Sterilization: History Tragically Repeats Itself

The US has a long history of forced and coerced sterilization, particularly of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples. This article focuses on US Immigration’s (ICE’s) coerced sterilization of migrants in detention, continuing a shameful pattern of the forcing and coercing vulnerable and marginalized women to be sterilized.

“The recent news of a whistleblower’s allegations that a for-profit ICE detention center forced sterilization procedures on immigrant women shocked many people and drew comparisons to Nazi sterilization campaigns. The ICE detention story reflects a long pattern in the United States of the coerced sterilization of marginalized populations, particularly of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples.”