Guard at Eloy Detention Center may have died of COVID-19 complications

A senior correctional officer at the Eloy Detention Center may have died of complications from COVID-19, officials confirmed Monday.

The death, which occurred on Sunday, comes amid an explosion of coronavirus cases at the Eloy Detention Center, which has quickly gone from having just a few cases to having one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks at a detention center in the country.

“We are deeply saddened to share that on Sunday, June 14, a member of the CoreCivic family who worked at our Eloy Detention Center as a Senior Correctional Officer has passed away due to potential COVID-19 related issues,” Amanda Gilchrist director of public affairs at CoreCivic, said in a statement.

CoreCivic is the Nashville-based forprofit private prison company that runs the Eloy Detention Center under contract with ICE.

She declined to release the correctional officer’s name, citing the family’s privacy. He had last worked at the facility on June 7, she said.

“Our hearts go out to our employee’s loved ones, and we pray for their peace and comfort,” she said.

At least two employees at the facility, located about 60 miles south of Phoenix, posted about his death on Facebook prior to CoreCivic issuing a statement.

The Arizona Republic has been unable to verify the correctional officer’s name.

Several correctional officers at immigration detention centers have died of complications related to the coronavirus, but the exact number is not known because ICE does not release data on employees infected with the virus who work for private prison companies such as CoreCivic.

Forty-five ICE employees working at detention centers have tested positive for COVID-19, including two ICE employees at detention facilities in Arizona, one at the Eloy facility and one at the Florence Detention Center, the data shows.

Four immigration detention centers in Arizona are now battling outbreaks of the coronavirus, but until recently no detainees at the Eloy Detention Center had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Over the weekend the number of positive cases at the 1,596-bed facility skyrocketed from a couple dozen on Friday to 122 active cases on Monday.

The explosion of cases was revealed when Immigration and Customs Enforcement updated its coronavirus statistics Monday.

The 122 cases involving detainees who are in isolation or are being monitored is the second-highest number of active cases at an immigration detention center in the country, according to ICE data.

The Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, with 129 active cases has the highest number of active COVID-19 cases, according to ICE data. Overall, Bluebonnet has had a total of 164 confirmed cases.

ACLU: ICE can’t protect detainees

The sudden

sharp

increase

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the number of detainees infected with COVID-19 shows how Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been unable to contain the spread of the disease inside immigration detention centers in Arizona, said Yvette Borja, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.

A total of 233 immigrants in ICE custody at detention facilities have tested positive for the virus, including 123 at the Eloy Detention Center, 81 at the La Palma Correctional Facility, 28 at the Florence Detention Center and one at the CCA Florence Correctional Center, according to ICE data,

Of the 233, 143 are active cases, the ICE data shows.

“Tragically the numbers speak for themselves,” Borja said. “Any claims that ICE is making that it can protect detainees are proven false by their own numbers.”

Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, an ICE spokeswoman, said the sudden rise in positive cases at the Eloy facility is the result of increased testing.

“ICE health care workers at the Eloy Detention Center last week tested several detainees as part of continuing efforts to test those who are asymptomatic and did not show symptoms of COVID-19. As a result of these increased efforts, more cases have been identified,” she said in a written statement.

The Eloy Detention Center has ceased intake for all new admissions to the facility to further protect those in custody, she said.

“ICE takes the health and safety of its detained population and facility staff very seriously and has protocols in place to address and mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” she said.

The Eloy Detention Center, the La Palma Correctional Center and CCA Florence Correctional Center, also known as the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex are run by CoreCivic under contract with ICE. The Florence Detention Center, also known as the Florence Service Processing Center is owned and operated by ICE.

On June 8, the ACLU of Arizona, along with the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, a group that provides legal assistance to detained immigrants, and Perkins Coie, a Seattlebased law firm, filed a lawsuit in federal court, requesting the immediate release of 13 immigrants with medical conditions that put them at risk of serious illness or death if they contract the virus.

Nine of 13 were held at La Palma and three were held at Eloy, where at the time just 22 detainees had tested positive for the virus. The 13th was already released.

“People detained in these facilities continue to be at severe risk because the facilities’ plans are both insufficient and not being effectively implemented,” said Laura Belous, advocacy attorney at the Florence Project said in a statement. “Release from detention is the only option to protect the health and safety of detained migrants.”

This was the second lawsuit filed by the coalition asking a federal judge to order the release of detainees with medical conditions that put them at greater risk.

At least two immigrants have died of coronavirus complications while in ICE custody, one in Georgia and one in California.

Victoria López, advocacy and legal director at the ACLU of Arizona, said it is impossible for detainees to effectively practice social distancing and protect themselves inside detention facilities.

“Additionally, our clients have told us that they are not getting nutritious food or proper sanitation supplies and report delays in access to medical care for many days and even weeks. We brought this suit to protect their basic human rights and demand their immediate release from detention,” she said.

ICE officials say its medical staff isolates detainees who have tested positive for COVID-19 to ensure their health and well-being.

ICE officials said the agency houses together detainees for 14 days who are believed to have been exposed to a person with an infectious agent but are asymptomatic.

In addition to intake screening and COVID-19 testing, individuals who show symptoms of fever and or respiratory illness are immediately isolated, officials said.

ICE officials said the agency adheres to the CDC recommendations for cleaning and disinfection during the COVID-19 response.

This includes cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, objects and shared equipment that are frequently touched; providing detainees with soap for the shower and hand soap for sink washing; alcohol-based sanitizer at visitor entrances, exits and waiting areas whenever possible; and ensuring soap and paper towels are present in bathrooms and work areas within the facilities, officials said.

Doctor seeking asylum is infected

Merlys Rodriguez Hernandez, a Cuban doctor seeking asylum at the U.S. currently being detained at the Eloy Center, complained for weeks that she was terrified of being infected by the coronavirus because ICE was not doing enough to protect detainees, said Stephen Yale-Loehr.

He is co-director of the asylum appeals clinic at Cornell Law School, which is representing Rodriguez Hernandez. She has filed an appeal after being denied a request to remain in the U.S. out of fear of political persecution if forced to return to Cuba.

“I’ve had weekly calls and she’s been worried about COVID-19 coming into the facility,” Yale-Loehr said.

Rodriguez Hernandez ended up getting infected with the virus and is now in isolation, Yale-Loehr said.

She has complained that besides having her temperature taken daily, ICE medical staff inside the facility are doing nothing to help her.

“She feel like she’s getting sicker every day,” said Yale-Loehr, who spoke with Rodriguez Hernandez by phone Monday. “She sounded very weak she was coughing and crying.”

Rodriguez Hernandez and her husband, Lazaro Almanza Paneca, also a doctor, arrived at the Nogales port of entry seeking asylum after fleeing political persecution in Cuba, according to documents provided by Yale-Loehr.

Almanza Paneca was transferred to an immigration detention center in Texas, where an immigration judge granted a form of asylum known as withholding. He was released last week, Yale-Loehr said.

The couple was barred from applying for asylum due to a rule implemented by the Trump administration in 2019 that requires asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the first country they pass through.

Rodriguez Hernandez also applied for withholding but was denied in April. She remains in ICE custody at the Eloy Detention Center while her appeal is pending, which could take months, Yale-Loehr said.

“Instead of welcoming a Cuban doctor fleeing persecution into the United States so she can help us fight COVID we detain her and now she has COVID herself,” Yale-Loehr said.