Complaint: Mississippi ICE center is violating COVID rules
Associated Press
5 hrs ago
NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) — Several immigrants’ rights groups filed a complaint against those running a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Mississippi, saying it’s experiencing the largest COVID-19 outbreak at any ICE facility in the country because safety policies aren’t being followed.
In a letter sent to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials on Monday, 15 organizations said the New Orleans field office is violating COVID-19 policies issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and ICE itself.
The civil rights and liberties complaint says that detainees are grouped close together in holding rooms at the Adams County Detention Center, making social distancing impossible, and that they don’t have consistent access to soap or disinfecting supplies. The groups also wrote that guards refuse to wear facemasks and ICE hasn’t made an effort to vaccinate incoming detained immigrants.