The 19th and Marshall Project: Pregnant Detainee Held Six Months at Bluebonnet Describes Undercooked Food; Her Records Show Gestational Diabetes

The 19th, in partnership with The Marshall Project, reports that a woman identified only as Maria, who asked to be named by her first name only, spent six months in ICE detention while pregnant, at the Bluebonnet Detention Center near Abilene, Texas. She describes the chicken as pink, cold and watery. Her medical records, per the reporter, show she developed high blood pressure and gestational diabetes and gained only 15 pounds by her third trimester; the food account and the supplement-refill delays (waits of up to 15 days) are her own, not drawn from records. Records show she was released two days after her OB-GYN scheduled a C-section; ICE gave no reason, and ICE did not reply to requests for comment.

The article also reports that Bluebonnet is run by Management and Training Corporation and can hold at most 1,000 people under ICE’s contract; per TRAC Reports analysis it held 206 more people than that at its highest in fiscal year 2025.

On ICE’s data, the article says DHS told Congress in a letter that 498 pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants were booked out of ICE custody from January 2025 to February 2026, and that, according to The Guardian, 18 people miscarried in the first nine months of the administration, with records showing ICE stopped tracking miscarriages after October 2025. For DHS’s response as relayed by NPR, see 2026-10-20–eyes-on-ice-relays-marshall-project-19th-bluebonnet-pregnant-detainees-ice-miscarriage-data-disputed. The Marshall Project piece is the original; the Eyes on ICE entry is a secondary relay that conflated several of these figures.