ICE Says It Lost Count of Detainee Miscarriages Amid Record Pregnant Detentions

A Guardian investigation published September 16, 2026 found ICE recorded at least 18 miscarriages among detainees from January through September 2025, then stopped updating that count after October 3, 2025. ICE told the Guardian it has no miscarriage data for October 2025 through June 2026, attributing the gap to ending a billing contract with the Veterans Affairs Financial Services Center. The gap coincided with record numbers of pregnant, postpartum, and nursing detainees: at least 498 were booked and released between January 2025 and February 2026, versus 158 in the same period a year earlier.

The missing data undercuts oversight of ICE's own directive limiting detention of pregnant people to national-security or imminent-danger cases, and follows earlier Senate requests for miscarriage figures. Detained women interviewed by the Guardian described delayed or absent follow-up care after miscarriages.

DHS initially told the Guardian it tracks miscarriages monthly, then confirmed the nine-month gap. A DHS spokesperson separately told Reason that detention "is a choice." No updated count has been published.