Trump official who blocked pregnant migrant teens from accessing abortions 'should face investigation'

Exclusive: 'Using his position of power to coerce minors to carry to term is not only unconstitutional but an unprecedented abuse of power'

The Trump administration’s former refugee director instructed the shelters to send pregnant young women to have consultations at religiously affiliated crisis pregnancy centres that are against abortion and to undergo medically unnecessary ultrasounds (Getty)

Campaigners are calling for a criminal investigation of a controversial Trump appointee who blocked pregnant migrant teens in his custody from accessing abortions.

Scott Lloyd ordered shelters to send the women to have consultations at religiously affiliated crisis pregnancy centres that are against abortion – and undergo medically unnecessary ultrasounds.

He had been running the Office of Refugee Resettlement – an agency which helps refugees arriving in the US and runs shelters housing detained child migrants – from March 2017. He was removed from the post in November and is now in another department.

Mr Lloyd, whose time in the role was plagued with controversy, denied an abortion to a pregnant rape survivor who had threatened to hurt herself if she was forced to carry to term. A federal judge became involved and the woman was allowed to have an abortion.

The Trump official, who is believed to have tracked the menstrual cycles of the girls in the office’s care, also ordered a pregnant girl who was otherwise ready for release to be held in custody until she had anti-abortion counselling.

The Campaign for Accountability public interest watchdog has called for a criminal investigation into Mr Lloyd – asking the House Judiciary Committee to refer Mr Lloyd for the Department of Justice for investigation into whether he deliberately lied to congress over tracking menstrual cycles.

Alice Huling, a lawyer for the watchdog, said: “It is a pretty serious offence to lie when you are asked point blank questions. It undermines the entire democratic process.

“Lloyd has shown a pattern multiple times of disregarding the law and making decisions which are governed by his religious ideology. His personal religious beliefs do not get to trump the rights these girls have while they are under the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s care.

“His actions are really upsetting. Using his control over these young people to try and enforce his own religious beliefs rather than following the law that governs how these young people are supposed to be cared for is reprehensible.

“He is still a part of the administration. I do not think just having moved him within the agency negates the bad acts he did. I think his behaviour warrants his removal.”

Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement has a policy to bar minors who have been raped from access to abortions. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Accused of lying to congress: Mr Lloyd (Getty Images)

Mr Lloyd, who she described as also being anti-contraception, is now a senior advisor at the Centre for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives of the US Department of Health and Human Services. She added that it was “disturbing” and “very invasive” that he used “time and resources” to track menstrual cycles – arguing there was no reason why an individual in his role would need to track this information.

In a 2017 deposition, Mr Lloyd acknowledged he had never approved an abortion request that crossed his desk.

Brigitte Amiri, an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyer who is leading on their case involving him, said: “Scott Lloyd was creepily involved. We know he flew to Texas to meet with a minor to convince her to carry on with her pregnancy. She was considering an abortion. I do not know the outcome. We know he spoke to another a minor on the phone to convince her to carry to term. He would get staff to convince people not to have abortions.

“He would get a weekly narrative report – an email – about pregnant minors who may be considering abortion. It would say how many weeks pregnant she is and could say if she was exhibiting ‘obnoxious’ behaviour, or suicidal or depressed.

“Any of the interference and obstruction with access to abortion was illegal. Using his position of power to coerce minors to carry to term is not only unconstitutional but an unprecedented abuse of power. He had no background in resettling refugees – he was obsessed with blocking abortion and not doing his job. I have never seen anything like this. I was shocked. I have never seen a government official so involved and so blatantly violating the law.”

The deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, who has been at the organisation for more than 14 years and has worked in civil litigation in access to abortion for nearly two decades, said Mr Lloyd would force girls to tell parents in their home countries they wanted an abortion – knowing they might threaten to beat them.

She said in one instance a girl was forced to tell her parents at home, as well as the family she was going to live with in America. Both families were angry about it.

Ms Amiri said he tracked girls’ last periods to discern how far along they were in their pregnancies as this was relevant to his ability to block abortion – especially in certain states which do not allow women to get their pregnancy terminated after a certain time.

The unaccompanied migrants housed by the Office for Refugee Resettlement are largely from Central and South America, she said, and often arrive into the US on their own because they are fleeing abuse from their parents or gang violence. She said they usually have extended family members in the US.

Mr Lloyd, who has also been accused of mishandling efforts to reunify migrant children who were separated at the border, was asked whether the Office of Refugee Resettlement tracked the menstrual cycles of any of the girls in the office’s care during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in March this year and specifically denied doing so.

But in deposition testimony in a lawsuit against the US Department of Health and Human Services – which oversees the office – regarding the treatment of pregnant unaccompanied minors filed by the ACLU, Mr Lloyd admitted to receiving a “spreadsheet” with information, including “estimated gestational age”.

There are 28 pages detailing the periods, pregnancies and reason for the pregnancy – whether it was by rape or not – of teen girls in custody, some of whom were 12 years old. The spreadsheet goes from July 2017 to June 2018.

Mr Lloyd was also asked if he had “personally visited pregnant minors to pressure them to continue their pregnancies” but denied doing so. However, in a March 2017 email, he described a trip to a Texas shelter and referenced his conversation with one pregnant teenager. “As I’ve said, often these girls start to regret abortion,” Mr Lloyd wrote to colleagues.

The agency routinely permitted undocumented teenagers to terminate their pregnancies if they obtained private funding under both the Bush and Obama administrations.

“I am mindful that abortion is offered by some as a solution to a rape. I disagree. To decline to assist in an abortion here is to decline to participate in violence against an innocent life,” Mr Lloyd wrote in a redacted version of a memo in response to the lawsuit launched by the ACLU.

Mr Lloyd had scant experience with refugees but a long track record of working to restrict reproductive rights before taking up his former role.

Shelby Quast, of Equality Now, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that aims to promote the rights of women and girls, said: “It is totally unacceptable that underage migrant girls, who are extremely vulnerable and neither mentally nor physically mature enough to carry babies to full term, are being prevented by US state authorities from accessing safe and legal abortions.”

The director of the NGO’s US office added: “This falls within the definition of forced pregnancy, when a woman or girl becomes pregnant without having sought or desired it, and abortion is denied, hindered, delayed or made difficult.”

A spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services said: “We have reviewed the matter and have concluded that Mr Lloyd’s testimony was accurate. Any statements to the contrary are incorrect.”

The Independent also contacted representatives for Mr Lloyd and the Department of Justice.