Glades should release detained immigrants
I have personally seen the heartache of hospitalized COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic. They have been afraid and alone with restricted visitations to reduce transmission and spread. In the community, we have seen how Latino and Black people have been disproportionately affected by the severity of this illness. People held at immigrant detention centers are a similarly vulnerable population. In close quarters without adequate ventilation, these people are at increased risk of contracting the virus.
Perhaps this issue has not received adequate coverage in the media, which has translated into our lack of community engagement. And besides, people have been overwhelmed and overburdened by their own suffering. But ultimately, we have failed to act, sentencing them to illness or death and risking a hot spot that spreads to a neighboring community.
In the meantime, immigrant advocacy groups have been vigorously highlighting the cruelty and harm of continuing to hold people in crowded areas during this pandemic. I joined one of these groups, Doctors for Camp Closure, because my calling as a physician has been to reduce harm and increase the well-being of people in my community. Our group has been collaborating with other advocacy groups and sharing our perspectives as a physician.
In the course of this advocacy, I read through a civil rights report drafted by three of these partner groups, the Immigrant Action Alliance, Freedom for Immigrants and Americans for Immigrant Justice regarding the Glades County
Detention Center, and I was disheartened. It was painful to learn that people were living in extreme and unabated fear. The people held at this immigration detention center report not having access to medical attention, negligence, inadequate physical distancing or masks. One asthmatic person stated “The doctor was not available to see me or prescribe an inhaler or any breathing treatment. I was told that Glades could not provide me with an inhaler. I was forced to use my cellmate’s extra inhaler.”
Going forward, I’m using my empathy for the people in detention to increase awareness. Doctors for Camp Closure asks for transparency of COVID-19 response plans and of the number of infections occurring at facilities. This information should be publicly available by posting to the facility’s or agency’s website and reporting to the state Department of Health. While we wait for the political will and bipartisan support to result in the closure of detention centers, we need to allow independent physicians to further educate people inside them on the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines. Above all we need our communities to be aware and moved to action by calling on our elected officials to address this humanitarian issue.
It is morally indefensible to keep people, regardless of immigration status, cooped up in crowded conditions with little ventilation and inadequate medical care amid a pandemic. Our government is condemning human beings to illness and death in your name. Speak out.