Democrats demand ICE data on detainee miscarriages after agency admits it lost count

Democrats in the U.S. House are demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) say how many pregnant immigrants have had miscarriages, stillbirths and pregnancy-related hospital stays in its custody. The demand follows the agency's admission that it lost count ¹.

Reps. Brittany Pettersen, Joyce Beatty and Robin Kelly sent the letter this month to ICE's acting director, David Venturella. It was cosigned by 64 other House members ¹. They also asked what steps ICE has taken to recover the missing data ¹.

What the records show

The letter follows a Guardian investigation based on government documents. They show ICE held more pregnant immigrants last fall and winter than at any time in the previous year ¹. The agency recorded 18 miscarriages in the first nine months of the Trump administration, but it has no data on miscarriages after Oct. 3, 2025 ¹.

Internal ICE documents blame a change in medical billing providers in October 2025. The agency's medical claims processing has been delayed for months ¹. Another report says ICE had learned of miscarriages through a billing contractor whose contract ended in October 2025 ².

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Records obtained by the Guardian show at least 87 pregnant women and teens in ICE detention in October 2025, rising to 101 in November ². That report also says the data gap does not show that detention caused any miscarriage ².

What each side says

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, first told the Guardian that miscarriages were tracked in monthly reports. The spokesperson later confirmed the agency has no miscarriage data from October 2025 through June 2026 ¹. DHS did not confirm it had received the letter, and the spokesperson called claims of substandard care for pregnant detainees false ¹.

The lawmakers cite a 2021 ICE directive. It says the agency should avoid detaining pregnant, postpartum and nursing people unless release is barred by law or exceptional circumstances exist ¹. The directive also requires ICE to closely monitor and document their health ¹.

ICE’s inability to follow agency directives, provide adequate medical care and maintain accurate records of pregnancy-related medical outcomes is unacceptable,

Pettersen said it was deeply concerning that ICE could not account for a full year of pregnancy outcomes ¹.

I’m just devastated for the people who have gone through this, who’ve lost pregnancies unnecessarily, who have been left without the medical care that they need after miscarrying

What happens next

The lawmakers asked when ICE leadership first learned of problems with miscarriage reporting and its tracking systems. They gave the agency until Nov. 6 to respond ¹. Before the Guardian's reporting, ICE had never acknowledged losing count, even when U.S. senators asked for the data ¹.

The Guardian, working with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, has sued under the Freedom of Information Act for data on pregnant people in detention and their health outcomes ¹.

That matters because the gap covers the period when ICE held more pregnant people than before. Medical experts told the Guardian that lapses in care during and after a miscarriage can turn treatable conditions into life-threatening emergencies ¹. Without records, Congress and the public cannot check whether the agency followed its own rules.

The Record

1. Oct 3, 2025ICE has no data on detainee miscarriages after this date, according to government documents ¹.
2. Oct 30, 2026The Guardian reports that House Democrats, led by Pettersen, Beatty and Kelly, demanded the data in a letter cosigned by 64 other representatives ¹.
3. Nov 6, 2026Deadline the lawmakers set for ICE to respond ¹.

Sources

1. The Guardian, “Democratic lawmakers demand ICE data on detainee miscarriages” (2026-10-30). theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/30/democrats-miscarriages-i
2. IBTimes UK, “ICE Recorded 18 Miscarriages — Then Stopped Tracking Them as Pregnant Detentions Hit Record High” (2026-09-21). ibtimes.co.uk/ice-miscarriages-pregnant-detainees-detention-

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