The agency that heads the national deportation force of the Donald Trump government confirmed this Thursday 23 new cases of coronavirus, raising alarm bells among organizations that defend the rights of immigrants who demand the release of the most vulnerable from a population close to 40,000 inmates.
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The new report updated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals a second positive case of covid-19 of an immigrant admitted to the Essex County Detention Center, New Jersey.
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Infected agents
The report adds that three ICE agents also tested positive for the coronavirus.
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- 1 agent from Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey
- 1 agent from Aurora Detention Center, Colorado
- 1 agent from the Houston, Texas Detention Center.
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Another 19 positive cases of covid-19 correspond to agents “not assigned to immigration detention centers,” the report states.
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Clamor of judges
Confirmation of new coronavirus cases in detention centers and among ICE agents occurs on the same day that attorneys and judges asked the Justice Department to stop all trials of detained immigrants, and release vulnerable immigrants, including the elderly and the sick.
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The Immigration Judges Union ( NAIJ) denounced this Thursday that the Immigration Court, under the Department of Justice, has disregarded the union’s calls to respond to the existing “urgent public health crisis” and order as soon as possible “the closure of all the courts that handle cases of detainees ”in government detention centers.
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“We have urged the EOIR (Office for Immigration Review) to allow bond hearings to proceed with written arguments to protect all parties involved, as well as court personnel and judges, and thereby allow detainees request their release, ”judge Dana Marks, honorary president of the NAIJ.
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The NAIJ He also denounced “regarding the courts where the hearings for detainees are held, we do not believe that the staff and judges have received sufficient sanitary supplies and cleaning materials,” a complaint that was also made by the American Immigration Lawyers Association ( AILA).
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The entity holds the government responsible for contagion cases that occur in immigration detention centers and warns that, due to the lack of protocols, the pandemic can cause serious damage in immigration detention centers.
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More than 1,400 quarantined
Tuesday the site The nation reported that as of March 19, a total of 1,444 agents from ICE, the CBP (Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remained in quarantine for prevention, and that the Border Patrol It was working to convert several of its main facilities into centers to locate and isolate people infected with covid-19.
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In turn, sources from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) who asked not to reveal their names for fear of retaliation, told Univision News that at least 10 airports “have been positive cases of covid-19” and that during For weeks, the staff have worked with “minimal sanitary protection”, only rubber gloves, “but without masks to avoid generating alarm”.
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They also indicated that positive cases had been registered at that date at the airports of Cleveland (1), Miami (2), Fort Lauderdale (5), Orlando (5) and Atlanta (2). Cases are also recorded at the airports of San José (California) and JFK (New York).
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A confidential DHS report cited by The Nation revealed that as of March 19, there were 670 TSA agents in quarantine.
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“Inhuman” policy
“We asked the government several days ago to release detainees in ICE detention centers and close them to protect them from this epidemic,” said Angélica Salas, executive director of the Los Angeles Immigrant Human Rights Coalition. ( CHIRLA).
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“These are people who have committed a civil offense, they are not criminals. They must all be removed promptly because their lives are in danger. And not only they, but also the workers of the centers, the ICE agents, the lawyers who defend them and the judges who judge them. This is inhuman“He added.
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Salas also said that “every immigrant has the right to live, having them locked up during this pandemic is a serious violation of human rights. The government must allow them to fight for their lives, give them a chance not to be infected. This is a global public health emergency that must be seriously addressed, “he said.
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Infected minors
In the detention centers of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), dependent on the Department of Health and Human resources (HHS), they also report positive cases of covid-19.
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A site report Northjersey.com revealed Thursday that three unaccompanied immigrants (UAC) tested positive for coronavirus at a center located in New York state.
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The ORR did not reveal the age, nationality, or the age of the minors.
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The UACs are about children who were detained at the border after fleeing their countries and seeking asylum in the United States.
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Having no parents to claim them, either because they were separated at the border or traveled alone, the State takes care of them in compliance with a human trafficking prevention law of 2008, which determines that it must be the immigration judges who take care of your futures in America.
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The publication said the ORR had suspended the release of minors from their care facilities in New York, one of the states hitherto hit hardest by the pandemic.
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