NEW: In less than a week, two septuagenarians have died of COVID in ICE detention. This is the story of one of them: 72-year-old James Hill, a Canadian, was ready to finally return to his family after serving 14 years in prison. He never got the chance. reut.rs/3atmTFR
I was in contact with Hill’s family before he was hospitalized. For weeks, they had been trying (unsuccessfully) to push ICE to deport him to Canada, worried that the crowded conditions in the detention center in Virginia were too dangerous at his advanced age 2/7
Since April, ICE has had protocols to evaluate detainees who might be at a higher-risk of contracting COVID-19. Hill was transferred to Farmville detention center in Virginia, where he languished for months. ICE didn't respond to whether a risk assessment was done for Hill 3/7
As we documented in this story back in July, some 70 detainees were transferred from out of state into Farmville. More than half later tested positive for COVID and soon the virus would infect almost every detainee in the center. Hill was one of them. tinyurl.com/yy9ql995 4/7
Hill was in a dorm that was pepper sprayed by guards. That’s when he first fell seriously ill. He was briefly hospitalized but then was returned that same day to the general dorm instead of being put in isolation, according to his family. It was later confirmed he had COVID 5/7
For days after he was hospitalized, Hill’s family couldn’t locate him. ICE says its policy is to not allow detainees who are hospitalized to speak to family members for security reasons 6/7
Now his family is grieving for their lost chances, to paraphrase a recent poem Hill wrote. Read the full story here: reut.rs/3atmTFR 7/7 
slight correction to the above: I was in contact with Hill's family WHILE he was hospitalized, not before. Please read his story here: reut.rs/3atmTFR
