A woman who alleged medical misconduct at a private Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Georgia was almost deported on Monday, The Intercept reported.
Alma Bowman’s lawyer said the 54-year-old received an order to be deported on June 4 after being detained during a traffic stop in 2017 for a parole violation, The Intercept reported. Bowman has been at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia for more than two years despite being a documented U.S. citizen, where she alleged that she experienced and witnessed malpractice by Dr. Mahendra Amin.
“I’m just scared,” Bowman said, The Intercept reported. “I always had this fear that I’ll lose touch with my family.”
ICE tried to deport a key witness in the forced hysterectomies story. She’s a U.S. citizen. https://t.co/ly5oObSeRT
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) November 2, 2020
After deportation proceedings began, a lawyer with the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights found documentation of Bowman’s U.S. citizenship, The Intercept reported. Her deportation was paused Monday and she was returned to a detention center in Georgia.
“For 43 years, immigration officials had access to her birth certificate, listing her father as a U.S. citizen, and her parents’ marriage certificate, since the documents were submitted when her father filed a petition for her to immigrate to the United States,” Bowman’s lawyer, Van Huynh said, The Intercept reported.
Bowman represented herself in immigration court previously and she said she told multiple immigration judges and an ICE officer about her documentation, The Intercept reported. Four judges have ruled on her case in the last three years, one of which has deported a U.S. citizen to Mexico in 2008.
Bowman received medical care while in ICE custody for vaginal pain in May 2018 from Amin, according to The Intercept. He reportedly told her that the pain was “all in her imagination,” and eventually prescribed a cream she never received.
Another doctor later recommended aggressive treatment for a rectal hernia as the cause of her discomfort, The Intercept reported. (RELATED: Acting ICE Director: Anyone Responsible For Alleged Forced Hysterectomies ‘Should Be Held Accountable’)
Detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center were allegedly given hysterectomies ordered by Amin without consenting to the operations, according to whistleblower complaints, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. Acting ICE Director Tony Pham told the DCNF that the agency will cooperate with investigations by the Office of Inspector General and the Department of Homeland Security.
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