California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is calling for a Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigation into a notorious immigration detention facility in the state. Her call follows a recent report that the privately operated site attempted to force detainees into signing waivers if they wanted to get face masks to protect themselves against the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“Reportedly, contractor personnel informed detained individuals that they were required to sign documentation in English, purportedly containing a liability waiver, before receiving protective masks,” Harris tells inspector general Joseph Cuffari. She notes that “contractor personnel did not fully translate or interpret the contents of the form and threatened to utilize pepper spray during the incident.”
The need for accountability at the Otay Mesa Detention Center has perhaps never been more urgent: In recent days, the facility has become the immigration detention site with the largest novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., with 17 confirmed cases among detainees and five confirmed cases among Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees as of April 16. Of course, this number is likely higher because ICE lies, hasn’t tested all detainees, and according to Texas Observer, isn’t reporting contractors who test positive.
Harris, who was joined in the letter by two California colleagues, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Juan Vargas, told Cuffari the report about the forced contract signing is “all the more troubling in light of your office’s consistent findings during the course of over two years that ICE has failed to adequately protect the health and safety of individuals in its custody … On June 3, 2019, your office found ‘immediate risks or egregious violations of detention standards’ at ICE detention facilities, including inadequate medical care.”
A recent American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit demanding the release of two people from the CoreCivic-operated facility have said conditions there were already abysmal before the pandemic, writing, “People detained at Otay Mesa have submitted complaints alleging extreme neglect by medical staff, including one case where a detained person was given a potentially harmful, ‘antiquated’ HIV treatment.” The ACLU has since dropped its lawsuit after officials released the two last week.
“These failures risk the health, safety, and lives of thousands of human beings in ICE’s custody, their representatives, facility and court personnel, and the public,” the letter continues. “During the ongoing public health crisis, the risks are all the more acute. Such failures expose people to infection and the risk of preventable deaths due to COVID-19.”