A.C.L.U. Lawsuit Accuses ICE Jailers of Denying Detainees Vaccines

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit claiming that immigrant detainees have been denied access to coronavirus vaccine booster shots. The suit was filed on behalf of four people held in immigration detention who have kidney disease, H.I.V. or other conditions. It seeks for the plaintiffs, who are vulnerable to severe illness and death in the event of infection, be given booster shots. 

“What we’re hearing is that people will put in a request for Covid-19 booster shots, that they will be told none are available at this time, that they just have to wait,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the A.C.L.U. National Prison Project, in a NY Times article. 

The lawsuit is the second the A.C.L.U. has filed to obtain booster shots for people held in immigration detention. Both were filed in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia. The five plaintiffs named in the first suit received booster shots after it was filed.

The lawsuit is named Shaikh v. ICE. The complaint is online here and the temporary restraining order is here. 

MHC