Attorneys and activists representing 10 ICE detainees at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, TX filed a petition in federal court last night demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately release detainees needlessly put at risk of severe injury or death from COVID-19 due to ICE officials’ careless detention policies.
In the midst of the worst pandemic in a century, ICE transported a plane of over 80 people, some of whom had already tested positive for COVID-19, to Prairieland without taking the necessary precautions to make sure those people and others who were exposed were safe.
Prairieland currently holds nearly 500 people and, as of May 14, ICE had confirmed 45 cases of COVID-19 among the detained population there.
“Despite repeated warnings from public health experts, ICE refuses to implement the most basic of steps to protect people detained at Prairieland and the result is a dangerous and scary reality for those detained there, those that work there, and the local community.
“Detention cannot and should not be a death sentence — not for the detainees, not for the people who work in ICE facilities, and not for the people in surrounding communities.”
