COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. immigration detention

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The COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. immigration detention has been covered extensively since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. More than 38,000 people were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the time of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. [1] ICE's response to the outbreak in detention facilities has been widely characterized as substandard and dangerous. [2] Harmful practices have been reported in numerous facilities managed by third-party private contractors with ICE. [1] For example, reports found that HDQ Neutral disinfectant was used over 50 times per day in un-ventilated areas, which caused pain, bleeding, and severe illness to numerous people held in Adelanto Detention Center, a private prison managed by GEO Group Inc. [3]

Contents

ICE and the Trump administration have been heavily criticized for its lack of transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic, [4] [5] after it banned oversight tours by U.S. Congress and stakeholder groups at all detention facilities and further restricted attorney access. [6] Detained people have reported that they are being forced into unsafe, unsanitary, and harmful conditions. [7] People who are critically ill have been denied testing and medical attention by detention officers. Serious irregularities in ICE's testing data have been reported, [6] while ICE has blocked coronavirus testing information at its facilities from being released to the public. [8] The American Civil Liberties Union referred to the COVID-19 pandemic in US immigration detention as "an unquestionable public health disaster." [6]

Conditions

The conditions of immigration detention facilities in the United States have been identified as contributing to the spread of COVID-19. Sources recognized that ICE (1) provided "dangerously substandard" medical care, (2) lacked transparency, accountability, and oversight, (3) engaged in frequent transfers of detainees between facilities, and (4) had crowded housing with a lack basic access to soap or masks. [2] [6] [9] ICE's notoriously poor handling of previous outbreaks in their facilities, such as a 2018 mumps outbreak, which began with fives cases at two Texas detention facilities before spreading to 57 facilities in 19 states, have been cited as a proven track record. [4] A study in the Journal of Urban Health projected that 72 percent of those in immigration detention would be infected with the coronavirus 90 days after a detention center had five infected cases as an optimistic projection, and that about 100 percent of the population would be infected as a pessimistic projection. [10]

Deaths

Sources report that ICE may not be accurately reporting infections or deaths from COVID-19, citing ICE's handling of previous outbreaks. [11] Two deaths have been reported.

Timeline

March

In March, ICE reportedly began to assess "vulnerable" detainees, including those over 60 or pregnant. [19] However, at the end of March it was reported that "the agency has not changed its detention practices in response to the pandemic." On March 31, a federal judge ordered the immediate release of ten chronically ill immigrants in government custody, saying that it would be "unconscionable and possibly barbaric" to keep them detained. U.S. district Judge John E. Jones III agreed with activist demands, stating that conditions in US immigration detention facilities, in which people "are unable to keep socially distant while detained by ICE and cannot keep the detention facilities sufficiently clean to combat the spread of the virus" will cause "a very real risk of serious, lasting illness or death." At this time, ICE had already found that four immigrants in New Jersey jails had tested positive for COVID-19. [1]

April

On April 9, detained men and women at the Irwin County Detention Center, in south Georgia, began organizing a protest to raise awareness of the harmful conditions they were being forcefully kept under as the threat of COVID-19 spread throughout ICE detention facilities. [21]

Between February 3 and April 24, 2020, ICE carried out 232 deportation flights to Latin America and Caribbean countries, which contributed to the spread of COVID-19. In an article published in The Washington Post , it was reported that the US was "sending infected migrants back to vulnerable countries," including Mexico, Haiti, El Salvador, and Guatemala. It was later confirmed that some of these migrants had tested positive. In Mexico, an outbreak at a shelter in Tamaulipas was linked to a migrant whom the US had deported. Dozens of migrants tested positive for the virus after being deported to Guatemala. [2]

May

On May 16, federal judges ordered the release of nearly 400 ICE detainees, "citing the preexisting medical conditions of the immigrants released and the potential for life-threatening complications from COVID-19." [1] U.S. representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jamie Raskin noted that "despite our repeated attempts to secure information, ICE has failed to fully respond to our requests, casting serious doubt on its preparedness for this crisis." [16] ICE reportedly released an additional 900 people detained in US immigration detention facilities. [22] 1,201 people in US immigration detention had tested positive for COVID-19 out of 2,394 who have been tested at this time. [19]

On May 19, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general launched an investigation into ICE's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. [23]

On May 21, a complaint was filed at Adelanto Detention Center after "a slew of interviews with inmates describing the poor conditions in the facility." Several accounts reported that guards were "spraying HDQ Neutral every 15 to 20 minutes all over communal areas with devastating consequences on those imprisoned." Manufacturer of the toxic chemical Spartan Chemical warns that HDQ Neutral "can cause skin burns and serious eye damage when inhaled." The chemical was sprayed by GEO Group Inc., who manages the facility under ICE contract, in un-ventilated areas every 15–20 minutes. One detainee stated: "When I blow my nose, blood comes out. They are treating us like animals. One person fainted and was taken out, I don't know what happened to them. There is no fresh air." Since May 11, at least nine inmates had fallen seriously ill because of the spraying. There was widespread outrage by activists, such as the media advocacy strategist at Freedom for Immigrants, who stated, "to us, this is an apparent act of retaliation for publicly reporting that GEO staff was previously only cleaning with water." [3]

On May 22, the Bluebonnet Detention Center in rural West Texas, just five months after opening following the establishment of a lucrative agreement between local officials and ICE, became the site of one of the biggest outbreaks among immigration detention facilities in the country. The facility, run by a for-profit prison contractor, had approximately 111 confirmed cases, more than a quarter of the total population, which was the second-highest among immigration detention facilities at the time. The larger Otay Mesa Detention Center had the highest number of cases, with 155 as of May 22. Legal fellow at the Texas Civil Rights Project Carrie O'Connor commented: "What we're seeing is the number of detainees testing positive in Texas and across the country is exploding. The government is slow-walking their response. That slow walk is illegal and it's putting everybody at risk." [23]

As of May 30, only 3,113 people in ICE detention had been tested–about ten percent of the total population. [18] More than 1 in 5 immigrants, or 78 of the 379 immigrants held at the Houston Contract Detention Facility, had tested positive and the rate of infection had nearly tripled in the facility, up from 21 people the previous week. [24]

June

On June 1, more than 1,406 immigration detainees had tested positive for the coronavirus, according to ICE. It was reported that the number of cases was "much higher given the relatively low number that ICE has reported testing – fewer than 12 percent of detainees." [2]

On June 3, three detained people provided live, first-hand details of their time in a South Florida immigration detainment facility to U.S. District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke virtually, while in the presence of an unmasked guard. One of the individuals was Deivys Perez Valladares, a diabetic 25-year-old Cuban national, who revealed that "the ICE official who is here with me, he doesn't have a mask on." When asked, Valladares revealed that the official was standing less than six feet away from him: "Much less. We're super close, like two or three feet." Valladares also "recounted to the court how he was transferred to and from three different detention centers within a week, and in one instance placed in a cramped 'hielera'—Spanish for icebox—for 13 hours with 17 other detainees." Icebox is a nickname detainees assign to "the frigid, cramped holding cells they are placed in prior to a transfer." ICE did not refute Valladares' claims. Steve Cooper, a Jamaican national, and Alejandro Ferrera Borges, a Cuban national, also testified. [7] The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment formally listed that an outbreak had occurred at a north Aurora immigration detention center managed by GEO Group Inc. [25]

On June 4, The Human Rights Watch called for the United States to suspend deportations immediately in order to cease contributing to the spread of COVID-19 globally. Nicole Austin-Hillery, US program director at Human Rights Watch, stated: "Despite outbreaks of Covid-19 in US immigration detention centers and government travel restrictions the world over, the US has continued deportations with little regard for the consequences. With these reckless deportations, the Trump administration is contributing to the spread of Covid-19 and endangering public health globally." [2]

The same day, it was announced that new detainees booked into one of twenty-two immigration detention facilities managed by ICE's in-house medical provider Health Services Corps. would begin being tested for coronavirus, after a reported surge in cases. However, despite the spread of COVID-19 in US immigration detention facilities, the 200 other facilities operated by third-party contractors have not begun testing detainees at intake. [26] An influx of COVID-19 cases were reported At the Otero County Processing Center, with 92 total. An interview was denied by ICE. The nearby Otero County Prison Facility, a non-ICE facility, also reported a surge in cases and one death. [27] The first confirmed case at Imperial Regional Detention Center in Calexico, a 22-year-old Bangladeshi national, was reported. [28]

People detained in the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California held a hunger strike in protest of the murder of George Floyd, the shootings of Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, and Tony McDade, and the deaths of "Carlos Mejia, who died in ICE custody at Otay Mesa, and Choung Woong Ahn, our friend who died in ICE custody at this detention center," and the harmful conditions presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in US immigration detention. [29]

By mid-June, cases were reportedly unable to be contained at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, as cases soared in the state. [30] Marisol Mendoza, a diabetic immigrant in ICE custody at the Eloy Detention Center sued ICE and CoreCivic for her release. Mendoza was denied and instead a federal judge ordered ICE to improve her conditions and make them constitutional. This was not followed by ICE and within two weeks Mendoza tested positive for COVID-19. [31]

July

Related Research Articles

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.

Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorized arrival, as well as those subject to deportation and removal until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of departure. Mandatory detention refers to the practice of compulsorily detaining or imprisoning people seeking political asylum, or who are considered to be illegal immigrants or unauthorized arrivals into a country. Some countries have set a maximum period of detention, while others permit indefinite detention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CoreCivic</span> U.S. prison-operating company

CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasley, Robert Crants, and T. Don Hutto, it received investments from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Vanderbilt University, and Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GEO Group</span> American institutional facilities company

The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's facilities include illegal immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers, and mental-health and residential-treatment facilities. It also operates government-owned facilities pursuant to management contracts. As of December 31, 2021, the company managed and/or owned 86,000 beds at 106 facilities. In 2019, agencies of the federal government of the United States generated 53% of the company's revenues. Up until 2021 the company was designated as a real estate investment trust, at which time the board of directors elected to reclassify as a C corporation under the stated goal of reducing the company's debt.

The T. Don Hutto Residential Center is a guarded, fenced-in, multi-purpose center currently used to detain non-US citizens awaiting the outcome of their immigration status. The center is located at 1001 Welch Street in the city of Taylor, Texas, within Williamson County. Formerly a medium-security state prison, it is operated by the CoreCivic under contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency through an ICE Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGA) with Williamson County, Texas. In 2006, Hutto became an immigrant-detention facility detaining immigrant families. The facility was turned into a women's detention center in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Detention Center</span>

Northwest Detention Center is a privately-run detention center located on the tide flats of the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, Washington, USA. The detention center is operated by the GEO Group on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The NWDC's current capacity is 1575, making it one of the largest detention centers in the United States. Numerous hunger strikes have been launched by inmates of the NWDC to protest the Center's poor conditions. Detainees have repeatedly reported overcrowding, a lack of medical attention, and severely unsanitary conditions, especially during COVID-19: "they're not even offering us soap."

The Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility was established in 1993 as the nation’s first publicly owned and privately operated adult secure correctional facility and is currently operated by the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation. This special non-profit, quasi-public detention facility was developed for use by the United States Marshal Service (USMS) in the Northeast and was later extended to include the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from 2005 to 2008 and again starting in 2019. Beginning in October 2011, the facility began serving the United States Navy, housing Navy personnel who have been placed in the custody of the General Court-Martial Convening Authority (GCMC). The facility operates at maximum security utilizing an architectural and high-tech design and construction containment system. A $47 million expansion was completed in December 2006 and increased the maximum occupancy from 300 all-male housing to its current capacity of 770 including a 40-bed unit for female detainees. It is the corporation's only facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration detention in the United States</span>

The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigrants are detained for unlawful entry to the United States, when their claims for asylum are received, and in the process of deportation and removal from the country. During Fiscal Year 2018, 396,448 people were booked into ICE custody: 242,778 of whom were detained by CBP and 153,670 by ICE's own enforcement operations. A daily average of 42,188 immigrants were held by ICE in that year. In addition, over twelve thousand immigrant children are housed by facilities under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's program for Unaccompanied Alien Children. Prior to referral to these other agencies, the CBP holds immigrants at processing centers; between mid-May and mid-June 2019, it held between 14,000 and 18,000 immigrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelanto Detention Center</span> Privately operated federal prison

Adelanto Detention Facility is a privately operated immigration detention center in Adelanto, San Bernardino County, California. Owned and operated by the GEO Group, it consists of two separate facilities: East, which was an existing prison purchased in June 2010 from the City of Adelanto with a capacity of about 600 inmates, and the newly built West expansion completed in August 2012 with another 700 beds. After an additional expansion in 2015, the facility's capacity houses up to 1,940 immigrant detainees of all classification levels, with the average stay of 30 days.

The Eloy Detention Center is a private prison located in Eloy, Pinal County, Arizona, owned and operated by CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America, under contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trump administration family separation policy</span> Policy intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation

The United States family separation policy under the Trump administration was presented to the public as a "zero tolerance" approach intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation. In some cases, families following the legal procedure to apply for asylum at official border crossings were also separated. It was officially adopted across the entire US–Mexico border from April 2018 until June 2018. Under the policy, federal authorities separated children and infants from parents or guardians with whom they had entered the US. The adults were prosecuted and held in federal jails or deported, and the children were placed under the supervision of the US Department of Health and Human Services. More than 5,500 children, including infants, were removed and hundreds have still not been reunited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trump administration migrant detentions</span> 2019–2020 political controversy

The Trump administration has detained migrants attempting to enter the United States at the United States–Mexico border. Government reports from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General in May 2019 and July 2019 found that migrants had been detained under conditions that failed federal standards. These conditions have included prolonged detention, overcrowding, and poor hygiene and food standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic</span>

The public health measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic effectively contained and reduced the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on a global scale, and had several other positive effects on the natural environment of planet Earth and human societies as well, including improved air quality and oxygen levels due to reduced air and water pollution, lower crime rates across the world, and less frequent violent crimes perpetrated by violent non-state actors, such as ISIS and other Islamic terrorist organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prisons</span> Impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted prisons globally. There have been outbreaks of COVID-19 reported in prisons and jails around the world, with the housing density and population turnover of many prisons contributing to an increased risk of contracting the virus compared to the general population. Prison crowding and lack of sanitation measures contribute to the risk of contracting diseases in prisons and jails. As a mitigation measure, several jurisdictions have released prisoners to reduce density and attempt to reduce the spread of the illness. There have also been protests among prisoners, riots and prison breaks in multiple countries in response to prisoner anger over their risk of contracting illness in prison conditions. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, health services within prisons had issues providing adequate care for incarcerated people, and this has only been exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19. Minority groups within the prison system have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirous Asgari</span> Iranian scientist

Sirous Asgari is an Iranian materials scientist and academic known for his research in lithium ion batteries, phase transformation and diffusion in solid materials. He is currently a full professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Sharif University of Technology, Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center</span> Primary immigration detention center in the Philippines

The Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center (BI–Bicutan) is the principal immigration detention center administered by the Bureau of Immigration of the Philippines. Located inside Camp Bagong Diwa, in Lower Bicutan, Taguig, the facility is known internally as the Warden Facility and Protection Unit (WFPU). However, in press releases and public statements, the Bureau variously refers to the facility as being a "jail", "warden facility" or "detention center". The function of the facility is to hold foreign detainees who are awaiting deportation, for example, because they have pending criminal cases, or because they are accused of having overstayed their visas.

Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía was a 57-year-old man from El Salvador who had immigrated to the United States in 1980 and lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years. He had left the country after the Salvadoran Civil War, a US-backed military conflict, broke out. In an article on Escobar Mejía's death, Graig Graziosi of The Independent reported on the tragic web of violence that surrounded his life, after "US-backed death squads terrorized civilians and were accused of raping and murdering American missionaries" while using "scorched earth" tactics contributed to the scattering of civilian populations. Carlos and his sister Rosa Escobedo Mejía fled to the US to live with their older sister Maribel. His status in the US was undocumented. On May 6, 2020, he was reportedly the first immigrant to die from COVID-19 in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the 11th immigrant to die in government custody in the fiscal year. He died at the Paradise Valley Hospital in National City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States</span> Indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has had far-reaching consequences in the country that go beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it, including political, cultural, and social implications.

The Glades County Detention Center, at 1297 East State Road 78 in remote Moore Haven, Florida, United States, opened in 2007 with 440 beds. Operated by the Glades County Sheriff's Office, besides Glades County arrestees, 90% of its beds house Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, which were previously spread around many county jails. It is Glades County's largest employer. It has been the site of widespread abuses, and in 2022, 17 members of Congress asked that it be closed.

In 2011, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency revised its national detention standards and developed the Performance-Based National Detention Standards. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, "the PBNDS 2011 are crafted to improve medical and mental health services, increase access to legal services and religious opportunities, improve communication with detainees with no or limited English proficiency, improve the process for reporting and responding to complaints, and increase recreation and visitation." The PBNDS of 2011 is an important step in United States detention reform. Many revisions reflect efforts to tailor detention practices to the United States border's unique demands and circumstances. The PBNDS of 2011 revised detention standards among seven different sections. Although all sections detail essential contributions to improving the safety, security, order, care, activities, justice, and administration/management of U.S. border control, there are sections pertaining to the specific conditions of undocumented women.

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