“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” – Emma Lazarus

“We don’t detain pregnant women.” That was the initial response of an El Paso, Texas immigration detention center officer back in 2013 when asked about the number of pregnant detainees in immigration detention centers, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. This was obviously false because in response to a Fusion.net Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request regarding pregnant women detained, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agency provided data that 13 pregnant women were detained in Texas and at least 559 were detained in six facilities throughout the U.S. since 2012. Pregnant detainees may be shackled, and sometimes even forced to give birth while shackled, depending on the state. This still occurs despite an official 2010 ICE policy that states pregnant women “shall not be restrained absent truly extraordinary circumstances,” and “restraints are never permitted on women who are in active labor or delivery.”