COID-19 in Detention Facilities

The DHS and ICE have a COID-19 reporting site https://www.ice.gov/coronavirus

Some news reporting indicates that ICE has not been very proactive about preventing spread, for example, they continue to move detained persons between different federal detention facilities, despite the fact that there are known COVID infections in many facilities.

https://www.vera.org/tracking-covid-19-in-immigration-detention

WE know anecdotally from reports inside Batavia Federal Detention Facility to the Justice for Migrant Families hotline that there are cases in Batavia, and the detained population complains of inadequate cleaning supplies and PPE. On top of this, detainees are not permitted to have individual hand sanitizers and often run out of soap, which they must purchase with their own commissary funds.Despite a plea last April for releasing many detained persons for health reasons, as far as I know, only a few persons were released. Immigrants spoke eloquently of their fears and the conditions

There is an ongoing need for the funds for making calls to family and friends, as the people inside Batavia are not permitted any visitors under the COVID restrictions.

As always, the support of UUCC members and friends has been extremely valued by JFM. Their online donation form is https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=U3WSMKNUPZ84E

Looking forward to the new administration

President Biden will have a lot of fires to put out at once. We can hope that he will take action quickly to roll back some of the more egregious rules enacted in the past 4 years to make it harder for all immigrants (legal and undocumented) to get into and remain in the United States.

Many rule changes require a public comment period and a review before an agency of the government adopts them. Thus many rules put into place over 4 years may take considerable time to unwind. In the meantime, it is not clear that Biden will take any action to immediately release many undocumented people from detention if they have nothing more than misdemeanor crimes (or no crimes at all) on their record.We can hope that he will do this right away for children in detention facilities.

Biden has pledged to uphold the original DACA program but there are court challenges that must be weathered.