‘I am scared of dying in here’: Lawsuit demands release of 18 immigrants from Alabama ICE facility

Caravan protest at Etowah County Detention Centerq

Adelante Alabama's Shut Down Etowah campaign held a caravan protest on Saturday, April 25 to demand the release of immigrants held at the Etowah County Detention Center. Protesters practiced social distancing by wearing masks. Those who didn't stay in their vehicles remained six feet apart during the protest.

A coalition of immigrant justice advocates and health experts are pushing for the release of 18 immigrants from a federal detention center in Alabama, saying those detained individuals are vulnerable to the coronavirus due to their health, according to a federal lawsuit.

Adelante Alabama Worker Center, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights are petitioning a judge to release the detained individuals who have multiple health issues at the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden.

In a 65-page complaint, advocates detail multiple reasons detained individuals at the facility are in danger of becoming ill during the coronavirus pandemic, including the inability to follow social distancing regulations, insufficient testing and screening protocols and failure to adhere to federal health guidelines.

“Plaintiffs fear for their lives because they have medical conditions,” the petition states. “And for good reason: they are trapped in a facility that can only be described as a breeding ground for the disease.”

The complaint, along with a request temporary restraining order, was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on April 27 against Etowah County Sheriff Jonathan Horton and Chief Deputy Keith Peek. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials such as Dianne Witte, interim director of the New Orleans Field Office, which includes Alabama, are also named as defendants in the case.

Advocates say the 18 detained individuals listed plaintiffs in the case are more vulnerable to the virus due their compromised immune systems caused by chronic health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and kidney disease. One of the men detained has prostate cancer. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said immunocompromised people are more likely to suffer from severe symptoms if they contract the virus.

The complaint states it is unconstitutional to keep detained people in crowded areas where they are vulnerable to an infectious disease because it counts as cruel and unusual punishment, which is prohibited under the eighth amendment. Authorities are also violating detained individuals’ fifth amendment right to due process, Adelante Alabama Executive Director Jessica Vosburgh said.

“Regardless of our immigration status or where we come from, when we are under government custody and care, the government needs to ensure they are looking after our basic safety,” Vosburgh said. “If not, that is a violation of our constitutional rights.”

Bakhodir Madjitov, an Uzbekistan citizen who has been detained without bond since 2017 and has a chronic heart condition, said in a press release from Adelante Alabama that he has worried about his and his family’s life since the pandemic started. His wife lost her job because of the coronavirus and she wonders how she is going to provide for their three sons alone. If he passes away in jail, he can’t help his family after his release.

“I am scared of dying in here,” Madjitov said. “What will my family do?”

Horton did not comment about the lawsuit and directed questions to ICE spokesman Bryan Cox since it involves ICE’s detainees. Cox said ICE doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but did call the claims “unsubstantiated” due to protocols ICE has put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

However, both medical experts and advocates say the protocols contradict guidelines prisons, jails and detention facilities. Advocates said those detained at the facility are usually housed in two units. They said conditions have become worse during the pandemic because the detained individuals have been crowded into a single housing unit within the jail, the lawsuit states. Meaning the six-foot social distancing rule cannot be enforced in a unit where more than 100 people are sharing dining and recreational areas as well as communal showers. They also can’t adhere to frequent hand washing rules because there is limited access to soap at the facility.

Infectious disease and public health experts from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Yale University, and Tulane University stated their concerns in declarations filed in court on Wednesday.

Dr. Ellen Eaton, assistant professor of medicine at UAB who is also coordinating medical response for Birmingham’s at-risk populations during the outbreak, said the Etowah County facility is not equipped to prevent, manage or treat an outbreak. Eaton has worked with those who have been a part of the criminal justice system for seven years, and she said it is impossible for people to practice social distancing rules in congregate facilities.

“Because the Etowah facility holds hundreds of detainees in group housing units, it is also impossible for detainees to avoid the gatherings of more than ten people that are prohibited by public health and state and federal officials,” Eaton said.

ICE’s protocols urge facilities to follow CDC rules for cleaning and sanitizing, but the CDC states that incarcerated and detained individuals who are cleaning should wear personal protective equipment (PPE). But advocates say cleaning staff, which is typically those who are detained or incarcerated, aren’t given personal protestive equipment. Eaton said Covid-19 can survive on stainless steel and plastic surfaces for up to 72 hours.

Horton used emergency funds from the U.S. Department of Justice to purchase a fogger machine to disinfect the jail. Eaton is concerned about fogging practices because it’s not recommended by the CDC and the Health Care Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Fogging doesn’t kill viruses or bacteria, she said.

“Worse still, the hazardous and toxic chemicals used in fogging harm people who work or live in the facilities that have been fogged,” Eaton said. “Jail staff, as well as the public at large, will be better protected from infection if detainees are released to private homes and allowed to practice appropriate social distancing and hygiene measures recommended by the CDC and required by Alabama and other states’ public health orders.”

If the plaintiffs are released, the complaint states they will reside with family members. The document details several federal court rulings from March and early April that have led to the release of thousands of medically vulnerable immigrants who were detained in facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and other states. The issues listed in those lawsuits are similar to the ones found in the Alabama complaint.

Cox said ICE’s detained population nationwide has declined since the beginning of March from 38,537 on February 29 to 29,675 as of April 25. Detainment for the New Orleans field office, which includes Alabama, is about 5,200 persons currently, Cox said. That’s about 920 less people than the end of March.

While Cox said he couldn’t break down testing numbers locally, ICE reports on its website that 1,073 detained individuals have been tested nationwide. That’s only 3.6 percent of ICE’s detainment population. Of the ones tested, 522 were positive for the coronavirus.

ICE officials told Al.com last week there weren’t any positive cases of COVID-19 at the facility. But according to ICE’s website, which is updated weekly, one person at the Etowah detention facility has tested positive for the virus.

Advocates stress ICE’s inability to prevent an outbreak’s spread due to lack of 24-hour medical care and overcrowding. The lawsuit also alleges that new detainees and county inmates are still being brought to the jail and detainees are being transferred to different detention centers without sufficient testing or screening protocols.

“The way ICE detention functions across the country, and the way the Etowah County Jail and the ICE unit within the Etowah County Jail is set up, there’s really no way for them to make tweaks on these conditions that would protect these people’s safety,” Vosburgh said. “That’s why their release is necessary.”

The lawsuit details instances when the virus spread within jails, prisons and other detention centers. The Mobile County sheriff’s office announced earlier this month that 10 inmates and 10 correctional officers tested positive for COVID-19. The Alabama Department of Corrections reported on Tuesday that two staff members, one at Ventress Correctional Facility and another at Kilby Correctional Facility, have also tested positive.

“It is only a short matter of time before the disease becomes widespread among people detained in close, unsanitary conditions,” advocates say in the complaint.

Cox said ICE will start receiving more than 2,000 COVID-19 tests per month from the Department of Health and Human Services to determine detainee health and fitness for travel, while in custody, and prior to removal.

“Currently, ICE is putting the appropriate logistics in place and training medical staff to utilize expanded testing,” he said.

ICE’s COVID-19 protocols state newly detained individuals and staff receive both verbal and temperature screenings when they arrive at detention facilities. Detainees experiencing fevers or respiratory symptoms are isolated and monitored for a certain period.

However, Eaton doesn’t believe screening is enough and stressed the need for aggressive testing. Healthcare facilities and shelters are now requiring people to take a COVID-19 test before entering because 30 to 50 percent of infected individuals show no symptoms, she said.

“The same policy should be applied to detainees who reside in congregate criminal justice and/or ICE settings,” Eaton said. “Because it is now recognized that a significant number of COVID transmissions are spread from asymptomatic persons, it unlikely that screening based on symptoms alone will prevent an outbreak of COVID-19.”

Advocates said detainees’ fifth amendment right to due process is also being violated because of prolonged detainment without review. The plaintiffs in the case have been detained for long periods of time, ranging between 13 months and nine years.

According to the complaint, detainment is considered unreasonable if it last six months to a year. Afterwards, the government must release the individual unless it can show that their removal is likely to happen in the foreseeable future. But each detainee in this case is either challenging their removal before federal courts or faces barriers to removal. One of the detainees was an attempted murder victim and has a pending application for a U Visa. The visa is specifically for victims who assist law enforcement during the investigation of a crime.

Vosburgh hopes to have a hearing on the case by this week. She said immigration detention was originally created to last a few hours, days or maybe weeks as the government makes a decision about whether to remove the detained immigrants or let them remain in the country. But Vosburgh said there are other ways to ensure the person attends hearings or report for deportation.

“For everyone in Etowah, ICE has much less intrusive means than putting someone in a cage for months or years to reliably meet that goal. For example, setting a reasonable bond, requiring regularly reporting, ankle monitors, home confinement,” she said.

Since prolonged detention times has been a problem before the pandemic, advocates representing the detainees believe they should be released especially considered the heightened risk of contracting the coronavirus.

“The conditions and treatment at ECDC have created a dangerous situation that threatens Plaintiffs’ lives, as well as the wellbeing of staff, others in the surrounding community, and the general public,” they said in the lawsuit.

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