Trump administration leaves menstruating migrant girls 'bleeding through underwears' at detention centers, lawsuit claims
Immigrant girls being held in detention centers by President Donald Trump's administration are reportedly being given scarce access to basic necessities like sanitary pads and tampons, with some saying they were left to "bleed through" their underwears due to their lack, according to a lawsuit drawing attention to the "appalling" conditions of the centers they are being held in.
The awful conditions of some detention centers were brought to light earlier this year in a report after it was revealed that children, in detention facilities in Texas were being denied access to showers, adequate food or bedding. United Nations (UN) human rights chief Michelle Bachelet had also called the conditions horrific.
At least 19 states have filed a lawsuit, detailing accounts of some of the children from the detention centers, who told investigators that they were held in rooms too small for them to sit down in and were consistently woken in the night by "roll calls." Reports state that children were also being made to fight for food that guards throw on the floor, according to the Independent.
A young woman, while talking to lawyers from Washington state, said that menstruating young girls were only permitted one tampon or sanitary pad per day. At least one girl, after that, "had no choice but to continue to wear her soiled underwear."
Washington's Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, also slammed Trump's immigration policies, saying they were "reminiscent of shameful chapters in American history — the internment of Japanese Americans, and the forced separation of Native American families”.
Ferguson, while talking about the immigrant youngsters now living in the Pacific Northwest, said: "In addition to a lack of toothbrushes, soap or access to showers reported earlier in the media, the children reported extremely cramped cells, younger kids put in cages as punishment and guards throwing food on the ground for children to fight over."
A testimony by lawyer Alma Poketti was also included in the lawsuit, which stated that one young woman, who as on her period, was allowed to take a shower after 10 days.
"She recalls there was another girl at the facility who was also on her period. They were each given one sanitary pad per day. Although the guards knew they had their periods, they were not offered showers or a change of clothes, even when the other girl visibly bled through her pants,” Poletti said.
“This girl had no choice but to continue to wear her soiled underwear and [trousers].”