Thread by @MigrantFreedom

ICYMI: @JeffMerkley & @MichaelBennet introduced a bill that would:

1. Stop inter-facility transfers during the pandemic
2. Stop jail/prison to ICE transfers during the pandemic
3. Require ICE to comply with CDC guidance
4. Require ICE to release people to comply

https://twitter.com/MigrantFreedom/status/1309638220511154177

@JeffMerkley @MichaelBennet Our meticulous reporting on documenting ICE's failed response to the #COVID19 pandemic helped this bill become reality.

Transfers have accelerated the number of #COVID19 cases in detention and have even directly to death:
freedomforimmigrants.org/covid19

@JeffMerkley @MichaelBennet Cipriano Chavez-Alvarez, who had lymphoma, diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension, became the 7th person to die of #COVID19 in ICE custody.

Earlier this summer, he was transferred from federal prison custody to ICE.
buzzfeednews.com/article/hameda…

@JeffMerkley @MichaelBennet Transfers are also a form of retaliation. Last month we filed a civil rights complaint with @splcenter @CamAmerCouncil & others over racism against Black hunger strikers detained at Pine Prairie.

Last week, many of those hunger strikers were transferred:
freedomforimmigrants.org/news/2020/8/26…

@JeffMerkley @MichaelBennet @splcenter @CamAmerCouncil However, ending transfers alone is not enough. The only way to ensure the safety of people in immigration detention is to reunite them with their community & loved ones.

We continue to call on ICE to #FreeThemAll