Great to hear calls for new public health guidelines for air travel in light of COVID-19. But any credible guidelines must tackle the public health practices of #ICEAir, which have been ignored for years despite contagion, abuse, and violence on planes. A thread:
In recent weeks it's become clear that ongoing deportation of infected migrants is spreading the virus to countries with struggling health systems, like Guatemala -- where the Health Ministry says as many as 50-75% of deportees have tested positive,
...or Haiti, where PAHO is now warning of an "impending humanitarian crisis" in light of COVID-19, and yet deportations continue apace, despite calls for their suspension by @RepWilson and @EdMarkey
aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/d…
aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/d…
Inside the US, ICE has admitted it continues to transfer detained ppl from one detention ctr to another w/o testing them first, potentially infecting thousands -- on planes, in each detention ctr, and in the cmtys detention ctr staff return to each night.
miamiherald.com/news/local/imm…
miamiherald.com/news/local/imm…
Yet while COVID-19 is a new threat, nothing about ICEAir's disregard for health and safety is novel. @uwchr has reviewed dozens of complaints filed by attorneys, detained people + migrants about abuse on domestic and internatl ICE Air flights jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/20…
92 ppl on a flight to Somalia were beaten, denied access to bathrooms, and held shackled for 2 days. A Honduran woman reportedly died in midair; a Salvadoran woman miscarried midflight; a Chinese man reported assault by ICE guards in @flySFO and others reported beatings on planes
There has been no serious investigation of these reports, no policy change to prevent their repetition. And aside from violence on planes, @uwchr's research using ICE's own database found thousands of ppl deported despite having pending legal claims jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/20…
This abuse is unchecked, bc ICE operates outside the law. International +domestic ICE Air flights are entirely unregulated by the FAA and DOT, bc existing industry regulations protect "ticket-buying customers," not deportees, as @uwchr's report explains jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/20…
So @RepPeterDeFazio @RepRickLarsen @BennieGThompson @RepLouCorrea it's great you want to keep the flying public safe! You can start by stopping ICE Air. We need an air transportation system that ensures our planes aren't vectors of violence and contagion.
