COVID-19 and immigration detention in the USA: time to act

Abstract

Over 37 000 immigrants are currently detained by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) in more than 130 facilities across the USA.1Rich J Allen S Letter to congress.https://whistleblower.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Drs.-Allen-and-Rich-3.20.2020-Letter-to-Congress.pdfDate: March 19, 2020Date accessed: March 28, 2020Google Scholar As understandable fear of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic intensifies in the USA, so too does the imminent danger ICE prisons pose not only to the vulnerable populations detained within their walls but to the nation's public health. Given the urgent need to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), ICE should release all detained immigrants posing no threat to public safety.1Rich J Allen S Letter to congress.https://whistleblower.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Drs.-Allen-and-Rich-3.20.2020-Letter-to-Congress.pdfDate: March 19, 2020Date accessed: March 28, 2020Google Scholar Overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate healthcare, and difficulty containing contagious diseases are well documented in ICE's immigration detention system.3US Department of Homeland SecurityManagement alert—DHS needs to address dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children and adults in the Rio Grande Valley (redacted).https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-07/OIG-19-51-Jul19_.pdfDate: June 2, 2019Date accessed: March 24, 2020Google Scholar, 4US Department of Homeland SecurityManagement alert—issues requiring action at the Adelanto ICE processing center in Adelanto, California.https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2018-10/OIG-18-86-Sep18.pdfDate: September 27, 2018Date accessed: March 24, 2020Google Scholar, 5Leung J Elson D Sanders K et al.Notes from the field: mumps in detention facilities that house detained migrants—United States, September 2018–August 2019.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019; 68: 749-750Crossref PubMed Scopus (12) Google Scholar Most facilities are run by private prisons or county jails through lucrative ICE subcontracts. Distancing and other necessary measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from spreading are not possible in immigrant prisons. These congregate detention facilities pose a great contagion risk: already, several staff at different immigrant detention centres have tested positive for COVID-19 and detainee infections are being reported as well.6Alvarez P Shoichet C First ICE detainee tests positive for coronavirus.https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/us/ice-detainee-coronavirus/index.htmlDate: March 24, 2020Date accessed: March 25, 2020Google Scholar Since 2014, the detained immigrant population has skyrocketed. Last year, ICE detained over 500 000 immigrants, more than the rest of the world combined.2US Immigration and Customs EnforcementFiscal year 2019 enforcement and removal operations report.https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2019/eroReportFY2019.pdfDate accessed: March 19, 2020Google Scholar, 7Skodo A How immigration detention compares around the world.http://theconversation.com/how-immigration-detention-compares-around-the-world-76067Date: April 19, 2017Date accessed: March 23, 2020Google Scholar This reflects harsh policies implemented by the US President Administration, including mandatory detention of asylum seekers and a dramatic reduction in parole. ICE detention facilities are often located in small, isolated towns that employ local residents who move each day between facility and community. As SARS-CoV-2 spreads, local health-care systems will be overwhelmed. For example, within 80 miles of the 1000 bed Pine Prairie, Louisiana, detention facility, there are only eight ICU beds. Making matters worse, thousands of inmates are transferred between centres each year. This practice continues as does deporting potentially infected detainees to their home countries. Arguably, it would be difficult to devise a system better suited for spreading SARS-CoV-2. Most immigrant detainees have no criminal record and immigration proceedings are civil, not criminal.8Keller A Rosenfeld B Tring-Shevrin C et al.Mental health of detained asylum seekers.Lancet. 2003; 362: 1712-1723Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (156) Google Scholar Immigrant detainees include asylum seekers who fled their countries because of torture, persecution, and violence. For such traumatised individuals, immigration detention can cause severe psychological distress including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.8Keller A Rosenfeld B Tring-Shevrin C et al.Mental health of detained asylum seekers.Lancet. 2003; 362: 1712-1723Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (156) Google Scholar Continued imprisonment during this pandemic could result in even more severe harm to the mental health of immigrant detainees. Moreover, the Migration Protection Protocol (MPP) has created an enormous and potentially dangerous SARS-CoV-2 reservoir on the US–Mexican border. Last year under that policy, nearly 60 000 asylum seekers—including women and children—were forced to remain in Mexico during the asylum application process,9Dickerson C Confusion on the border as appeals court rules against Truain in Mexico' policy.https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/us/migrants-court-remain-in-mexico-mpp-injunction.htmlDate: February 28, 2020Date accessed: March 23, 2020Google Scholar and live in unsanitary, overcrowded, makeshift encampments with no healthcare system, and violence. ICE has full authority to release detained immigrants. "Unlike the Federal Bureau of Prisons, ICE has complete control over the release of individuals. ICE is not carrying out the sentence imposed by a federal judge," notes one former ICE Director.10Montoya-Galvez C Powder kegs: grow for ICE to release immigrants to avoid coronavirus outbreak.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-ice-release-immigrants-detention-outbreak/Date: March 19, 2020Date accessed: March 19, 2020Google Scholar As the USA and the rest of the world attempt to stave off the worst pandemic in generations there can be no doubt that continuing to hold immigrant detainees in overcrowded facilities is not only cruel but dangerous. Moral and public health necessity requires immigrant detention to stop. Failure to do so endangers the tens of thousands of civil immigrant detainees and our society. ASK reports consultancy fees from US Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency of US Department of Homeland Security that is separate from the Immigration Customs Enforcement, which is the focus of the article. BDW declares no competing interests. COVID-19 puts societies to the testAs of April 21, the coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 2·3 million people and taken 162 956 lives—35 884 in the USA, 24 114 in Italy, 20 852 in Spain, 20 233 in France, 16 509 in the UK, 5209 in Iran, 4642 in China—all underestimates most probably. Beyond these numbers are people, families, communities, societies that have been affected in unprecedented ways. The coronavirus pandemic puts societies to the test: it is a test of political leadership, of national health systems, of social care services, of solidarity, of the social contract—a test of our very own fabric. Full-Text PDF Open Access