ACLU Demands Vaccine Access to All Detained Immigrants

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado sent a letter on May 27, to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office Director John Fabbricatore demanding that he provide vaccine access to the 563 people in detention at the Aurora ICE Processing Center. The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tae Johnson making a similar demand for the more than 15,000 people in ICE custody nationwide, and ACLU affiliates in nine states — Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New México, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas — all sent similar letters to their local ICE field directors as well.

“ICE detention centers are no different than jails and prisons. These types of facilities are a virus’ delight. With no way to adhere to CDC guidelines, the virus can spread easily and quickly,” said Denise Maes, ACLU of Colorado Public Policy Director. “The answer is to depopulate the facility and vaccinate those persons housed there. And do it now.”

“Over the course of the pandemic, ICE detention facilities have been some of the worst hotspots for the spread of COVID-19, with positivity rates five times greater than prison and 20 times greater than the general U.S. population,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “Despite this clear, irrefutable evidence of the high risk of COVID-19 to detained people, ICE staff, and surrounding communities, the agency still has no clear plan to ensure that people in detention can be vaccinated. COVID-19 outbreaks continue to spread in detention. This is unacceptable and unconscionable, especially at a time where there is ample vaccine availability. Our government can and must ensure all detained people have access to the vaccines, and quickly. Doing so is a matter of life and death.”

The letter reads: “ICE’s failure to ensure a coordinated strategy for vaccination continues to endanger people in detention nationwide. ICE’s COVID-19 plan has left it to individual detention facilities to “contact their state’s COVID-19 vaccine resource . . . to obtain vaccine.” This vaccination approach, however, has led to widespread failure. While more than 60 percent of adults in the United States have received at least one dose of a vaccine, the vast majority of people in ICE detention have yet to receive a dose.”

“Our government can and must ensure all detained people have access to the vaccines, and quickly. Doing so is a matter of life and death.”
Eunice Cho, ACLU’s National Prison Project

The ACLU is also demanding ICE to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate education materials; ensure people who have declined vaccination are reoffered the opportunity regularly and are offered the opportunity to speak with a medical provider; can receive the vaccine within 48 hours of request; make arrangements for a second dose for all people who are released and/or transferred after their first dose.

Fiscal Year 2020 was the deadliest year in ICE detention in 15 years, but — as a recent report from the ACLU pointed out — the number of deaths due to COVID-19 was likely higher than the agency reported due to the undercounting of people who died after they were released to the hospital. During the pandemic, there were also reports of increased use of force, solitary confinement, patterns of sexual abuse, forced sterilizations, and an utter failure to protect people from COVID-19.

In April, the ACLU sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, calling for the shut down of 39 ICE detention facilities, as well as a commitment to let the people who were released during the pandemic to remain free. The administration recently announced that it would close two of the facilities named in that campaign, Irwin County Detention Center and Bristol County Sheriff’s Office.

Read the full letter here.

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