‘Like sitting ducks’: Amid coronavirus, families, attorneys sound alarm over ICE detainees

1Ali Gostanian and Caitlin Fichtel and Osej Serratos for NBC News report that Americans with family members in immigration detention facilities, as well as their lawyers, are sounding the alarm and urging the release of nonviolent detainees with underlying health conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 24, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in a person held in an immigrant detention center. “This is what public health experts have assured us would happen: People in detention centers are sitting ducks for the spread of this virus,” Andrea Flores, deputy director of policy at the ACLU, said in a statement. “The same experts have also predicted that once outbreaks in detention centers begin, they will spread rapidly.”

In interviews with NBC News, families and attorneys expressed concerns for their clients and loved ones who are detained in ICE facilities. There are currently 37,000 people held in ICE detention facilities throughout the country.

KJ