Immigrant Detention and COVID-19: - How a Pandemic Exploited and Spread through the US Immigrant Detention System

“As the pandemic continues to rage and the numbers of infected detainees and facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks continue to climb, the large-scale release of immigrant detainees remains an urgent priority.” Section I of the report details how the US immigrant detention system became a vector for the spread of the pandemic. [...] CMS Detention Report | August 2020 7 Transfers of Infected Detainees and Inmates The transfer of infected immigrant detainees and inmates held in “non-dedicated” facilities with ICE detainees has contributed to the spread of the virus throughout the detention system. [...] On May 26, it expanded the order to coastal ports-of-entry (POEs) and extended it indefinitely – until “the danger of further introduction of COVID-19 into the United States has ceased to be a serious danger to the public health, and the continuation of the Order is no longer necessary to protect the public health” (CDC 2020c). [...] The detention and deportation policies of the United States – a nation with 4 percent of the world’s population, but which has experienced 29 percent of the world’s COVID-19 deaths (Chamie 2020) – has contributed to the spread of the pandemic to nations with far lower infection rates.36 The expulsion process occurs in an average of 96 minutes, without medical examination, except for migrants “in d. [...] A May 14 letter to DHS and ICE by the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, questioned ICE’s claimed compliance with CDC guidelines.62 The letter pointed out that, contrary to ICE policy and practice, CDC recommended against cohorting detainees who had been exposed to coronavirus, except if there were no.