--- title: Donald Trump Order Means ICE Can Detain Pregnant Women description: Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer automatically release pregnant immigrants from detention canonical: https://time.com/5221737/ice-detain-pregnant-immigrants-donald-trump/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-30T01:15:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:33:30.460Z article:section: Politics og:title: ICE Can Now Detain Pregnant Immigrants og:description: In accordance with President Trump's executive order og:url: https://time.com/5221737/ice-detain-pregnant-immigrants-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679c0368f3ccc6b/69892c65656a3f5509bd4062/trump-ice-immigration-pregnant-immigrants.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Border Security Remains Key Issue In Presidential Campaigns og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ICE Can Now Detain Pregnant Immigrants twitter:description: In accordance with President Trump's executive order twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679c0368f3ccc6b/69892c65656a3f5509bd4062/trump-ice-immigration-pregnant-immigrants.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ICE Will Now Detain Pregnant Women Because of President Trump's Executive Order by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Mar 30, 2018 1:15 AM UTC  An immigrant from El Salvador, seven months pregnant, she said, near Rio Grande City, Tex. on Dec. 7, 2015. An immigrant from El Salvador, seven months pregnant, she said, near Rio Grande City, Tex. on Dec. 7, 2015.John Moore—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Mar 30, 2018 1:15 AM UTC Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer automatically release pregnant immigrants from detention, marking the latest effect of President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on undocumented immigrants. The new policy was outlined in an [internal ICE memo](https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2018/11032%5F3%5FPregnantDetaines.pdf), and reported Thursday by [The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-now-detaining-pregnant-women-thanks-to-trump-order). It replaces a [previous policy](https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2016/11032.2%5FIdentificationMonitoringPregnantDetainees.pdf), put in place under former President Barack Obama, which said ICE would not detain pregnant women except in “extraordinary circumstances.” But after Trump issued an executive order in [January 2017](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united-states/) that required immigration officers to target all undocumented immigrants, the agency decided to change the way it dealt with pregnant women. Pregnant immigrants will still be eligible for release on a case-by-case basis, according to an [FAQ published on ICE’s website](https://www.ice.gov/faqs-identification-and-monitoring-pregnant-detainees). The agency said it will detain pregnant women “whose detention is necessary to effectuate removal, as well as those deemed a flight risk or danger to the community.” It also said it will not detain pregnant women during their third trimester “absent extraordinary circumstances.” “Just like there are men who commit heinous acts violent acts, so too have we had women in custody that commit heinous acts,” said Philip Miller, an ICE deputy executive associate director, according to [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-women/u-s-ends-presumed-freedom-for-pregnant-immigrants-idUSKBN1H52VK?utm%5Fcampaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm%5Fcontent=5abd643d04d3011c37b5903c&utm%5Fmedium=trueAnthem&utm%5Fsource=twitter). Immigrants’ rights advocates have said it is dangerous to women and their unborn children to hold them in custody. “This new ICE policy memo confirms our fears that the government is continuing its barbaric policy of detaining pregnant women despite substantial evidence that detention of this particularly vulnerable population has been linked to serious health implications to the mother and unborn child and also constitutes a significant barrier to receiving a meaningful day in court,” Katie Shepherd, a legal advocate at the American Immigration Council, told The Daily Beast. While the Obama administration also detained pregnant women, the new policy likely means more pregnant women will be held in custody. Since December, 506 pregnant women have been detained, Miller [told CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/politics/ice-immigration-pregnant-women/index.html). And as of March 20, there were 35 pregnant women in ICE’s custody. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5221737/ice-detain-pregnant-immigrants-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5221737/ice-detain-pregnant-immigrants-donald-trump/"},"headline":"ICE Will Now Detain Pregnant Women Because of President Trump's Executive Order","datePublished":"2018-03-30T01:15:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:33:30.460Z","description":"Under Obama, ICE generally released pregnant immigrants","url":"https://time.com/5221737/ice-detain-pregnant-immigrants-donald-trump/","keywords":["Immigration","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679c0368f3ccc6b/69892c65656a3f5509bd4062/trump-ice-immigration-pregnant-immigrants.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679c0368f3ccc6b/69892c65656a3f5509bd4062/trump-ice-immigration-pregnant-immigrants.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Border Security Remains Key Issue In Presidential Campaigns","caption":"Border Security Remains Key Issue In Presidential Campaigns","creditText":"John Moore—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5221737/ice-detain-pregnant-immigrants-donald-trump/","name":"ICE Will Now Detain Pregnant Women Because of President Trump's Executive Order"}}]}] ```