‘Sitting Ducks’: Advocates Raise Red Flags About Unsafe Conditions Inside ICE Detention Centers
The ACLU recently estimated that almost all of those held in ICE facilities could be infected by the 90th day of a COVID-19 outbreak. An ICE spokesman said the agency is monitoring all detainees. Meanwhile, detainees voice health concerns after a COVID death in San Diego, as well.
The New York Times:
‘Everybody Was Sick’: Inside An ICE Detention Center
Last month, Makalay Tarawally propped her 2-month-old in front of her phone so that his father could meet him for the first time, virtually. As a blood technician for a Covid-19 hospital unit, Ms. Tarawally knew how careful she needed to be. From her aunt’s house in Edison, N.J., she called a room at the Red Roof Inn. The father of her two children, Abdul Massaquoi, was isolating there because of possible exposure to the coronavirus. He waved through the phone screen. (La Gorce, 5/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Cry For Help’: ICE Detainees Beg Lawmakers To Act After Coronavirus Death
More than 40 immigrants held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego are alleging that a recent detainee death of COVID-19 was caused by reckless and inhumane conditions, according to a letter begging the governor and other California lawmakers to intervene. “This is a cry for help,” said detainee Oscar Nevarez, one of 43 immigrants at Otay Mesa who supported the letter after detainee Carlos Escobar Mejia died May 6. “Please allow us to go home on humanitarian ground and fight our cases from our homes with our families where we are safe.” (Sanchez, 5/14)
