COVID cases spiking in California immigration facilities. Will state officials intervene?
This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative — a bilingual, community journalism project funded by the Central Valley Community Foundation and with technology and training support from Microsoft Corp. The collaboration includes The Fresno Bee, Valley Public Radio, Vida en el Valle, Radio Bilingüe and the Institute for Media & Public Trust at Fresno State.
As COVID-19 cases have spiked among immigrants and staff in several of California’s privately operated immigrant detention centers in recent weeks, advocacy groups have increased pressure on the state to intervene and provide detainees with better safeguards against contracting the virus.
In a Jan. 28 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Tomás Aragón, more than 50 statewide organizations, legal service providers and advocacy groups denounced the treatment of detainees in federal immigration detention facilities.
They asked for increased state-led inspections and improved coordination with local public health departments, as well as access to vaccinations and booster shots to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. They’re also urging the governor to issue a public health order that would provide detainees with N95 masks, hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies, adequate and timely medical care, medications and COVID-19 tests.
“Immigrants remain an essential part of our state and millions of California residents are affected by the issue of immigration and detention as well as the ongoing pandemic,” wrote Lisa Knox, legal director for the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. “As advocates we remain firmly committed to the safe release of all individuals from these horrific facilities and recognize the importance of ensuring the health and safety of those who are forced to remain detained.”
More than 138 detainees at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility in San Diego have confirmed COVID-19 cases, as do 34 at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico and 18 at the Golden State Annex Facility in McFarland, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data updated Tuesday. In addition, nine staff members at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield tested positive for COVID-19, according to court filings.
ICE did not respond to questions about the outbreaks or concerns raised in the letter.
Alexandra Wilkes is a spokeswoman for the Day 1 Alliance, a trade association that represents the corrections and detention companies The GEO Group, CoreCivic and the Management and Training Corporation (MTC). She said the “allegations raised in this letter are blatantly false.”
She said each of the private companies operating ICE detention facilities has followed all health guidelines and directives mandated by local, state and federal health officials and that employees “take seriously their responsibility for the individuals in their care.”
“There’s no doubt the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for those of us responsible for caring for migrants going through the U.S. immigration system,” she added. “However, this letter is not about the safety and well-being of those in our care, it is yet another attempt to push the ‘Abolish ICE’ movement and end the U.S. immigration processing system entirely.”
Concerns about COVID-19 outbreaks at immigration facilities
Since the onset of the pandemic nearly two years ago, immigrants held in private detention centers have reported poor conditions and significant threats to their health, said Edwin Carmona-Cruz, who is the communications director for the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, one of the organizations that signed the letter.
He said ICE detention centers have failed to follow guidance on social distancing and safety protocols, provide sufficient access to boosters, respond promptly to medical emergencies, or give detainees access to medications and vital medical care. With the highly contagious omicron variant rapidly spreading, private detention facilities are no more prepared to keep detainees safe than they were when the pandemic began two years ago, he added.
Carmona-Cruz said advocacy groups will continue to put pressure on ICE to safely release those currently in custody.
“There’s a lot of fear in terms of the spread of COVID-19,” he said. “It’s really been a dysfunctional process, even two years into the pandemic, that these private prison operators just can’t seem to get it right. I think it’s unbelievable.”
Christopher V. Ferreira, a spokesperson for The Geo Group, said its facilities have “from the beginning of the pandemic” have taken steps to prevent the spread of the virus. He said the pandemic has “presented unprecedented challenges,” but that it hasn’t deterred the company from implementing best health and safety practices.
“Ensuring the health and safety of all those entrusted to our care and of our employees has always been our number one priority,” he said.
Advocates are also calling on state officials to provide stricter enforcement and oversight of detention facilities, such as by having local public health departments perform regular inspections to ensure compliance with health protocols. Carmona-Cruz said the attorney general can also make an unannounced visit to a detention facility in an effort to hold it accountable.
“It is well within the jurisdiction of the attorney general to do such inspections,” he said. “It is clear that the state can and should protect the health and safety of immigrants in detention facilities.”
Bonta’s office in an emailed statement said he “is working toward increasing transparency around the conditions of immigration detention facilities throughout the state,” adding that “those efforts are ongoing and we’ll continue to work with federal and local authorities to shed light on these facilities.”
Newsom’s office and the state public health department did not respond to The Bee’s request for comment.
ICE detainees in California seek state help
Pedro Figueroa Padilla, a 33-year-old from Mexico, has been detained since November at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility, which is owned and operated the The GEO Group. There are currently no active infections at the facility among detainees, but he’s worried the virus could spread after several guards tested positive a couple weeks ago.
He said many people in custody are highly vulnerable to contracting the virus and have underlying medical conditions that could make COVID-19 infection more severe. Padilla, who said he is overweight, is worried that he is at a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms.
He said it’s difficult to get any of the staff at the facility to complete simple requests, like refilling soap dispensers or providing masks and hand sanitizer to detainees in common areas.
“It’s shocking that we’re treated like this,” he said. “Some of the responses are very frustrating to handle because they’ll say, ‘well, nobody’s available at the moment.’ But we shouldn’t be the ones requesting this, they should be the ones to be on top of these things to show that they care about our health.”
Padilla said he struggled to get a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine after waiting for more than three weeks. He said he has helped other detainees at the facility request vaccines and booster shots and helped connect them to Spanish-speaking resources. He said it’s important to him that he help those who don’t know how to speak English because asking for resources, vaccines or other necessary requests can be challenging and frustrating.
“When they’re not taking us seriously when we put in a request, it’s important for us to to look out for one another,” he said. “I’m fortunate enough to be able to understand two languages, but all around me, there’s a lot of people that don’t comprehend things. It’s my turn to help our people here and just kind of speak up for those who can’t.”
Ferreira, of The Geo Group, said detainees at its facilities have had “24/7 access to healthcare services,” including “access to a cadre of medical professionals such as physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, psychiatrists, as well as referrals to local community hospitals as needed.”
He added that the company has already beefed up its testing capabilities at each of its facilities by investing $2 million for rapid testing kits and an additional $3.7 million to install air purification systems.
There have been an estimated total of 38,033 COVID-19 cases among immigrants at ICE’s 146 detention facilities across the country since March 2020, though those numbers are expected to be higher, according to ICE data compiled by the Vera Institute of Justice. Eleven of those detainees died due to COVID-19 complications, the institute reported. There have been about 401,293 people detained in ICE custody between March 2020 and January 2022.
ICE has faced intense scrutiny from state and federal leaders, legal advocates and immigrants rights groups for its pandemic response, including by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General, which detailed in a September 2021 report ICE’s challenges enforcing COVID-19 protocols in detention facilities.
But Wilkes, of the Day 1 Alliance, cited a separate report from February 2021 by The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, which concluded that “contractor operated facilities serving the U.S. Marshals Service were more effective in mitigating COVID-19 than government-run facilities.” She said the findings show employees remain “steadfastly dedicated” to mitigating COVID-19, while also “educating detainees about the benefits of the vaccine and providing full access to initial doses and boosters.”
“For decades, Republicans and Democrats alike have called on our members to improve conditions for migrants navigating the U.S. immigration system under multiple levels of stringent oversight from government and independent auditors,” she added. “It is a responsibility our member companies, and most importantly, their employees, take seriously.”
Still, Padilla hopes the letter addressed to the state will help bring attention to many of the issues detainees like him are facing while in detention and get them better access to resources and medical attention, and lead to stricter enforcement of health and safety rules.
“We’re hoping for the state of California to help us out, because we can’t depend on these facilities to protect us to make it through this pandemic,” he said.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 10:50 AM with the headline "COVID cases spiking in California immigration facilities. Will state officials intervene?."