ICE HAS ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION THAT CAN SAVE LIVES
I am a San Diego-based immigration attorney, and I assist individuals in deportation proceedings who are applying for asylum and other immigration relief with the immigration courts. I currently represent migrants who are detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center run by Corecivic, a private for-profit corporation.
I am very concerned about the health and safety of my clients and all detainees in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak in the facility. The conditions at the detention center endanger the lives of human beings and it is imperative that all, if not most, of the detainees are released to their families or placed under alternative-to-detention programs that are available to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
The Otay Mesa Detention Center is the ICE detention facility with the greatest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the country. On April 22, ICE published that it has 42 confirmed cases. By May 6, the number had risen to 140 with one fatality. This shows the rapid spread of the virus in the facility; in two weeks, the confirmed cases more than tripled.
To address the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends social distancing, prompt identification of the sick by testing and isolation of those suspected of or known to be sick.
Social distancing, however, is close to impossible in a facility like the detention center. The facility is divided into pods and each pod can accommodate around 100 detainees. Each pod is comprised of cells of different sizes that can hold two to eight individuals. Detainees share communal spaces with many others including dining areas, hallways and showers. Further, detainees share common facilities and equipment like sinks, toilets and telephones.
My clients told me there are still about 60 and 90 people in their respective pods, and multiple detainees in each cell. They said that it is almost impossible to keep at least six feet away from other detainees inside cells and in common areas.
The speed of diagnosing and treating those who are sick is another problem. A client said that it could take several days for a detainee who is exhibiting symptoms to be properly checked and/or tested. Another client in a different pod mentioned that while detainees exhibiting symptoms are often seen by a medical staff within the day, it is only when the health condition gets worse that a detainee gets tested. Hence, while detainees wait to be checked or tested, those with the virus could continue to infect others.
What makes the situation worse are issues related to disinfection of the facility
and availability of masks to detainees. Though recently, the detention center started to assign detainees to cleaning duties, there has been no system in place to ensure that the facility is properly and regularly disinfected.
The facility also has failed to provide masks to every detainee up to the third week of April. Currently, most of the detainees have disposable masks, but most of them are worn out having been used for several days.
Another issue is access to proper nutrition. The coronavirus can act quickly and become fatal in a matter of days, especially to those with weak immune systems. Regular intake of nutritious food is as vital as having a protective mask on. For several weeks now, detainees have been fed with the same kind of sandwich three times a day; fresh fruits and vegetables are rare.
Most of these detainees do not have any record of violence. Many are asylum seekers who were detained after presenting themselves at the border. Many others are there simply because they were apprehended by ICE for being unauthorized. Many of them have children, spouses and family members who are U.S. citizens or legal residents.
To be sure, ICE has other viable and more humane options here. For example, ICE can exercise its discretion to release detainees with connections to their community on their own recognizance. Another option is to put ankle bracelets on detainees ICE may deem as flight risks.
These alternatives to detention are not new to ICE as it has always utilized these options. The federal government’s own reports show the very high compliance and effectiveness (from 92% to 99%) of these alternatives. Moreover, these options costs less to taxpayers, and above all it will save human lives.
Every single day of delay increases the risks to detainees. If there are humane and effective alternatives to detention, there is no reason for ICE and Corecivic to subject human beings to any amount of fatal risk.