Thread by @Das_Alina

THREAD: For #immigration jails, NJ is the center of the #COVID19 epidemic. We’re knee-deep in lawsuits to get our people out. ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in NY and NJ are fighting to keep our people locked up - even as the virus rapidly spreads. Some observations:

First, there’s NO QUESTION that #COVID19 is in immigration jails. As of last night (3/30) ICE itself is confirming 9 cases (4 people confined and 5 personnel) in immigration jails already (6 total in NJ jails alone). And that’s only the confirmed cases. ice.gov/coronavirus

There are many more unconfirmed. It takes A LOT for ICE to actually get someone tested. “Gabriel” begged for medical care. It wasn’t until after he literally FELL DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS before ICE took him to a hospital where he tested positive. buzzfeednews.com/article/hameda…

Second, there’s NO QUESTION that jails & prisons are not equipped to handle #COVID19. DHS’s own doctors have said so. whistleblower.org/wp-content/upl…

The people in immigration jails know that this is a crisis waiting to happen, and they are terrified. gothamist.com/news/their-own…

After all, deaths in immigration jail were a problem even before #COVID19, and medical neglect was often to blame. detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/repo…

In legal papers, the US Attorney’s Office (in SDNY and DNJ) is opposing our requests for federal court intervention, arguing that ICE is taking “proactive measures.”

In some jails on lockdown, “proactive measures” means ICE putting people in cells two at a time for 23 hours a day (i.e, less than 6 feet apart), giving them food prepared w/o masks & then letting them out to make calls on the same phones & take showers in the same bathrooms.

In other jails, “proactive measures” means ICE giving out more sanitizer (which still runs out) and checking new people who enter the jail for symptoms (knowing people with #COVID19 are generally asymptomatic for a few days).

In the words of one federal judge who released 10 @BklynDefender clients, ICE’s so-called proactive measures are “patently insufficient” to protect people in immigration jails. politico.com/f/?id=00000171…

The USAO is also arguing there's no emergency for folks who haven’t yet tested positive or is in contact w someone who has. Are they waiting for people to have it as bad as “Gabriel”- who tested positive & started vomiting on his way back to the hospital?
buzzfeednews.com/article/hameda…

Compare that to the NJ Supreme Court, which recognized w/ consent of law enforcement that there is a “profound risk posed to people in correctional facilities arising from the spread of COVID-19” and ordered the release of 1000 people
aclu-nj.org/files/5415/849…

Third, people should REJECT ICE’S RATIONALE that it's protecting “public safety" by locking people up. As I wrote @qz, ICE's definition of “public” & “safety” is bogus. The people they’re holding are part of the public & ICE is endangering their safety. qz.com/1825593/why-ic…

My students and I have been working day and night to try to free our clients. But the larger goal is to #FreeThemAll. Want to take action? Check out these resources & toolkit from @DetentionWatch
detentionwatchnetwork.org/covid-19

From a former DHS official: “I think that people are going to die, & I think that ICE is treating that as if it’s almost a given, as opposed to something that they can really reduce." "This is going to be one of those ‘where were you?’ kinds of things.” theintercept.com/2020/03/27/imm…

Let's hope our government listens to the public-all of us-and changes course before more harm is done. #FreeThemAll #FreeThemAll4PublicHealth