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Release Detained Immigrants NOW!
Posted on Mar 26 2020
In light of the unprecedented pandemic facing our nation, immigrant and refugee detainees must be released. This includes, but is not limited to, asylum applicants, migrants in family detention, and migrants in detention solely because they are in civil removal proceedings.
Alternatives to detention, including release on recognizance or a minimal bond, are extremely effective in ensuring compliance with immigration check-ins and hearings. More than 95 percent of immigrants released with case management show up for all of their hearings—and even for removal, if that is the final decision.
Jails and prisons are among the most dangerous settings during this time. Confinement in close quarters allows for neither social distancing nor sufficient sanitation. A prison doctor in Los Angeles wrote that “Prisons are petri dishes for contagious respiratory illnesses.”
On March 17, New York DOC officials said there were no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in city jails. The next day, one incarcerated person and a prison guard were confirmed with the virus. On March 21, 21 prisoners and 17 employees at Rikers Island tested positive for the virus.
The first positive tests for COVID-19 among detention staff and among detained immigrants have now been reported. Most detainees with symptoms are not even being tested. More positive tests would undoubtedly be reported if more testing were conducted.
If it is not already too late to prevent COVID-19 infections from sweeping through detention centers, and then from bursting into the community as infected correctional officers return nightly to their families, ICE and EOIR must act now to prioritize alternatives to detention and drastically reduce the number of detained individuals.
Call and write to the following people to demand immediate release of detainees and safer conditions for any who remain:
Chief Counsel Jim Stolley
Office of the Principal Legal Advisor
1 Federal Drive, Suite 1800
Fort Snelling, MN, 55111
Phone: (612) 843-8600
Field Office Director Peter Berg
St Paul Field Office
1 Federal Drive, Suite 1601
Fort Snelling, MN 55111
Phone: (612) 843-8600
Also, call the duty officer for the St. Paul ICE Field Office to pressure ICE to agree to set reasonable bonds for detainees:
Phone: (612) 843-8600
Email: StPaul.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov