How US immigration officials are spreading the coronavirus

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At least one transfer led to a super-spreading event, when the ICE moved 74 detainees, more than half of which later tested positive for Covid-19; three weeks later, that had jumped to 315

Serafin Saragoza, who is currently in detention at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Farmville, Virginia and tested positive for the coronavirus, with his wife and children back in November 2019. Picture: HANDOUT VIA REUTERS/NORMA MONDRAGON

The Reuters tally is likely just a small fraction of all transfers, former the ICE officials said. The ICE does not release data on detainee moves, and court records capture only a smattering of them. The new group was kept in a separate dormitory, but about two weeks after their arrival, dozens of other detainees began falling ill, 15 detainees said in interviews. The Centres for Disease Control says Covid-19 symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus.

Former ICE officials and immigration attorneys say the agency regularly transfers people in custody for myriad reasons, including: bed space, preparing migrants for deportation, and security reasons. With the pandemic still raging in the US, lawmakers have called on the ICE to halt the practice. As of July 16, the ICE had reported 3,567 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in its detention centres. The actual number of infected detainees is almost certainly higher, Franco-Paredes said, as not all centres are doing widespread testing.

A week after the out-of-state transferees arrived at the Farmville centre, three of them tested positive while still quarantined from the general population. In response, centre officials decided to test the entire group of new arrivals, according to an e-mail from ICE deputy field office director Matthew Munroe to immigration attorneys. Fifty-one tested positive.

 

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