Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and more than a dozen senators led by California’s Kamala Harris have been among the latest legislators calling for the release of people from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, where action now could help stop the further spread of a pandemic that has already hit detainees and staff alike in a number of facilities.
"ICE's failure to reduce detention numbers and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 has a real possibility of creating a severe health crisis for detention centers,” NBC News reports Rep. Sylvia Garcia said during a press call on Tuesday, warning a large-scale outbreak could crush already-fragile medical facilities. "This is a humanitarian crisis that is right on our doorstep," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “A decision to do nothing is a decision to do harm."
ICE released only a small number of particularly vulnerable detainees of its own volition, while federal judges have ordered federal immigration officials to release others. But, more needs to be done, and urgently, Hispanic Caucus members said. "Ideally you would get everybody out of those confined spaces, where they are sitting ducks for this virus,” said chair Joaquin Castro. “It doesn't make sense that the federal government would be releasing people from prison—but won't do the same for ICE detainees.”
One recent lawsuit in California demanding the release of immigrants noted many of the state’s jails “have released people detained in the criminal justice system to protect those people and the community from COVID-19,” including 300 from Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail and over 1,000 from Los Angeles County. The Kern County Jail, located just minutes from one of the facilities holding immigrants, has released dozens of detainees, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundations of Northern California and Southern California, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, and Lakin & Wille LLP said.
In their letter calling on federal immigration officials to release vulnerable folks from detention, Harris and a dozen colleagues said “We are deeply concerned about the health and safety of persons in detention, staff, and their families due to the particular vulnerability of individuals in detention to the spread of infection,” noting the massive jump in confirmed coronavirus cases in recent weeks. ”DHS is well aware of both the risks these detained individuals face and DHS’ own discretion to protect them.”
“Indeed, ICE has reportedly used its discretion to release certain detained persons in New Jersey, but has declined to issue a policy determination at this time,” the senators, who include Dick Durbin, Cory Booker, Ed Markey, Tammy Duckworth, Mazie Hirono, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Bob Menendez, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Bernie Sanders continue. “In the midst of this crisis, DHS, ICE, and CBP must take reasonable steps to reduce the number of individuals in detention to guard against further exposure to coronavirus and to protect persons in immigration detention and facility staff.”
Ocasio-Cortez joined with Rep. Nydia Velázquez last month to call on officials to release people amid this crisis, saying ”Since your agencies have provided no clear action plan to ensure the health of immigrant detainees allegedly in violation of the immigration laws, we have concluded that the Department, including both CBP and ICE, are unable to handle its mission under the current public health crisis.” Velázquez has since been diagnosed with presumed coronavirus infection, her office said, showing how this virus can impact anybody, from those in federal office to the vulnerable sitting in an ICE cell right now.