“The filing of the whistleblower complaint opened the door to more and more women from around the world,” Shahshahani said in an interview. “There’s no telling how many people in Irwin were medically ill-treated.”
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Service, which holds undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation at the Irwin County facility, has not responded to the lawsuit. The agency’s inspector general is investigating medical care at Irwin, as are law enforcement officers and federal congressmen.
Amin’s attorney Scott Grubman did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Grubman previously denied Amin’s misconduct, saying the doctor only performed medically necessary interventions and only with the consent of the patients.
In graphical, excruciating detail, the inmates’ attorneys presented medical examinations and procedures as assaults that traumatized many of the women, particularly those with a history of sexual abuse. One woman said being treated by Amin was like “being raped again.”
Jaromy Floriano Navarro, a 28-year-old Mexican national who was detained in Irwin for almost a year, was taken to Amin after complaining of severe menstrual cramps. During the investigation, according to court records, Amin put a hand on her knee while he inspected her vaginal area and inside her body. … He would alternate between inserting his fingers and inserting an ultrasound wand into her body. “
Amin told Floriano Navarro she needed a small procedure to drain an ovarian cyst. It wasn’t until later, when the nurses were preparing her for the surgery at Irwin County Hospital, that Floriano Navarro learned that Amin would do a hysterectomy instead, the suit claims. The operation was canceled when Floriano Navarro tested positive for COVID-19. During a later appointment with the doctor, according to court records, Amin “cursed” her for resisting the hysterectomy.
When Floriano Navarro returned to the detention center, the guards wanted to know if, according to court records, she was one of the women named in the whistleblower complaint. She admitted it was her – and was deported less than 24 hours later. She is now in Mexico, separated from her children in the United States.
Other inmates said the guards put them in solitary confinement after complaining about Amin. Some said that after Amin’s interventions, the detention center refused to deliver supplies to prevent infection of their surgical incisions. One woman had a staph and yeast infection when she was deported days after Amine’s operation, according to court records, and another woman, who had profuse vaginal bleeding after Amin’s visit, said a guard refused to replace her soiled panties.
Last month, a federal judge ordered immigration officials to stop deporting Irwin women who worked with law enforcement or congressional investigators.
Immigration advocates who have called for the detention center to be closed hope to find a receptive audience in President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. Shahshahani said the sheer number of women who have reported medical abuse should make a compelling case.
“The whole picture is really disturbing,” she said. “It pains me to know that there can be many more women in any part of the world who can never talk about what happened to them.”
