COVID-19 Spreads through ICE Detention Centers
https://socialistaction.org/2020/09/14/covid-19-spreads-though-ice-detention-centers/
September 14, 2020
By LISA LUINENBERG & LAZARO MONTEVERDE
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As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the U.S., immigrants continue to
be hard hit. COVID-19 is spreading almost unchecked through detention
centers that house immigrants. As of July 1st, more than 2,700 detainees
had tested positive for COVID-19, a number that is almost certainly low.
Although ICE claims to be following federal guidelines for COVID-19
safety, former Homeland Security health adviser and whistleblower Dr.
Scott Allen testified to Congress in June, saying that “gaping holes in
the testing guidelines and ICE’s failure to significantly reduce
population size have made these facilities hotspots for the virus.”
Many immigrants being held in detention centers (many of which are
for-profit), have complained of lack of space to social distance, lack
of protective gear, showers, and adequate medical care. Many of these
detention centers have abysmal health and safety records. Carlos Ernesto
Escobar Mejia, housed at the for-profit Otay Mesa detention center in
California, was the first detainee to die of COVID-19 in the U.S.
Because people in ICE custody are held on civil rather than criminal
charges, they could be released at any time. Many immigrant advocates
and lawyers have been pushing for wide-scale releases due to safety
concerns. But instead, ICE has adopted a policy of crowding people
suspected of having COVID-19 into designated areas and waiting to see if
they get better or worse. Inmates at the Otay facility reported
requesting help for Mr. Escobar Mejia many times, but he was only given
ibuprofen for his symptoms before he died. He had lived in the U.S. for
40 years.
In late June, a Federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must
release migrant children from ICE detention centers by July 27, where
346 parents and their children were being detained in facilities with
COVID-19 outbreaks. With ICE pushing for a deal that would present
parents with the horrible choice of either remaining detained with their
children and risk being infected with COVID-19, or releasing their
children with no guarantee of where they would be placed or when (or if)
they would be reunited, immigrant advocates were pushing for families to
be released together and for stricter safety measures to be implemented
in detention centers. The Trump administration, which has separated over
5,000 immigrant children from their parents since 2017, opposed families
being released together. As of mid-August, at least 120 children remain
in ICE detention centers, weeks past the deadline set by the judge.
Under the Flores Settlement Agreement, children cannot be detained for
more than 20 days by federal immigration officials, but they are often
detained for much longer. At one Texas facility, 47 children have been
detained for over 300 days.
But ICE is no stranger to flouting government rules. In a shocking
revelation, The New York Times obtained government data showing that
hotel detentions overseen by a private security firm have ballooned
under an aggressive border closure policy implemented by the Trump
administration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the policy,
over 100,000 migrants, including children and families, have been
expelled from the country rather than put into formal deportation
proceedings. Instead of deterring migrants, border crossings have surged
under the pandemic.
Now unaccompanied migrant children, some as young as 1 year old, are
being detained in major hotel chains in a “shadow detention” system.
Because the hotels exist outside of the formal detention system, they
are not subject to policies designed to prevent abuse or to ensure that
migrants have access to phones, healthy food, and medical care. Parents
and lawyers have no way of tracking where children are being held and
monitoring their wellbeing while in custody. They are often being cared
for by workers without proper training in providing childcare. “A
transportation vendor should not be in charge of changing the diaper of
a 1-year-old, giving bottles to babies or dealing with the traumatic
effects they might be dealing with. I’m worried kids may be exposed to
abuse, neglect, including sexual abuse, and we will have no idea,” said
Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former deputy assistant director for custody
management at ICE.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration recently announced that ICE made
over 2,000 arrests during a 6-week operation across major cities like
LA. As Trump continues to target immigrant communities, mass protests
are taking place across the U.S. against police brutality and the plague
of police murders of Black people. What is needed now is a movement in
the streets in solidarity with both the African American community, many
of whom are trapped in the racist prison system, and the Latinx
community being targeted by ICE. An injury to one is an injury to all!
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Robert G. Ingersoll
“Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never
inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the
Church does neither.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll,