Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials must release detained people from detention facilities that are in the path of hurricanes before the humanitarian disasters seen at a number of Louisiana facilities hit by Laura become even more widespread, immigrant rights advocate and United We Dream’s Florida coordinator Thomas Kennedy writes in the Sun Sentinel.
“Here in Florida, we recently hosted a congressional roundtable in which members of Congress Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala committed to an unannounced inspection of several South Florida detention centers that have also been in the spotlight for inhumane treatment of those detained,” he said. “We are in the middle of hurricane season, and we cannot afford to be hit by a hurricane if it means the horrific conditions in Louisiana would be replicated here.”
Kennedy writes that a family member with a loved once in detention in Louisiana “reports that since the hurricane struck, the air conditioning has been broken, beds are wet, walls are moist and people are walking around in their underwear to cope with the extreme heat.” Mother Jones had also reported that conditions had become so awful “that detainees reported relieving themselves on their dishes, covering up their waste with torn-up pieces of plastic bags to control odors, and sleeping near toilets filled with feces and menstrual blood.”
Faced with an unbearable and miserable heat, Mother Jones said that detainees at LaSalle’s Jackson Parish Correctional Center had been allowed to sleep outside at night. But while a LaSalle official has claimed that power is now back at Jackson Parish, detainees say this isn’t so (and recall that private prison executives have mislead even Congress on what happens inside their facilities. Hint: It’s a lot of cruel and inhumane stuff).
“Since these conditions have been brought to light,” Kennedy continued, “those detained have been moved to outdoor tents and told it will take weeks to restore power and water, according to family members.” It’s intentional cruelty that ICE continues to keep people needlessly detained amid a pandemic, and is still refusing to just fucking release them as a hurricane makes life unbearable. They must be freed.
“While conditions deteriorate, ICE continues to reject parole requests from asylum seekers, and they transfer people between detention centers to avoid transparency and accountability,” Kennedy said. “Continuing to detain people while transferring them across various facilities does not resolve the situation and will continue to put them at risk during this deadly pandemic, when they could be pursuing their immigration cases from the safety of their homes. There needs to be continued pressure on immigration authorities to make sure that all those who are in immigration detention are freed to be with their loved ones.” Read his full column at the Sun Sentinel here.