ICE makes vaccines available at Batavia
ICE grants permission to 58 immigrants detained in Buffalo following litigation
After weeks of litigation, 58 immigrants detained at Buffalo Federal Detention Facility receive COVID -19 vaccine.
After nearly two months of litigation, 58 immigrants detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility have received a COVID -19 vaccine.
The first shots in immigrants’ arms were administered at a nearby state-run vaccination site on March 23, with eight medically vulnerable immigrants getting their first dose of the vaccine. They appeared to be the first immigrants in the nation held at Ice-run facilities to receive the COVID -19 vaccine.
The state Department of Homeland Security sent a shipment of 100 vaccine doses to the facility on April 9 to avoid having detained immigrants brought to vaccination sites, saying the sites are not able to accommodate people in custody.
“To me, I’m just very relieved that people were finally able to receive the vaccine,” said John Peng, Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow with Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York. “We are now just hoping that people won’t have any significant symptoms, and that they can hopefully, after a 14-day period, more or less be protected from COVID -19.”
The increased number of administered vaccines comes two months after a COVID-19 outbreak hit the facility — the second outbreak there since the pandemic struck the U.S. As of March 23, the facility held 187 immigrants, and 119 of those had tested positive for COVID-19 over the course of one month, according to court documents. ICE'S website says there are now 53 active positive cases at the facility.
As the virus quickly spread throughout the Batavia facility beginning on Feb. 11, the New York Civil Liberties Union and PLSNY filed a lawsuit against the facility and ICE over providing vaccines to then-85 detained immigrants who were medically at-risk.
“Currently, it seems that nobody is taking responsibility for vaccinating both people who are incarcerated there and the people who work there, which is a huge problem because people in congregate settings like detention centers are especially vulnerable to virus outbreaks,” Amy Belsher, a staff attorney with NYCLU, said at the time the lawsuit was filed.
In near-weekly court hearings, ICE sought to downplay its responsibility to vaccinate its detainees, arguing the state or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be sued instead. Meanwhile, ICE detainees being held at state prisons and local jails began receiving the vaccine as the state opened up eligibility in early February, and other federal agencies had been able to secure vaccines themselves.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo ordered NYCLU and PLSNY to attempt making the vaccine appointments for the detained immigrants themselves, and said ICE would be responsible to transport them to the appointments.
Eight immigrants were transported to those appointments on March 23. As of April 13, all medically vulnerable immigrants detained at the Batavia facility who consented to receiving the vaccine had received one dose, in addition to 24 who were not vulnerable.
“Relief, that’s the word I’ve come back to,” Peng said. “It’s been (two) months of wondering whether or not people can get the vaccine. I’ve spoken to quite a number of individuals at the facility during this time, more often hearing people just concerned with the uncertainty and whether they can continue staying safe.”
Twenty-seven vulnerable immigrants declined to receive the vaccine.
Although their lawsuit focused on vulnerable detainees, PLSNY and NYCLU said they are continuing to work with ICE to ensure all immigrants detained at its Batavia facility receive the vaccine per New York eligibility guidelines.