Report by Katherine Peeler et al. Physicians for Human Rights.
January 12, 2021.
Physical and psychological abuse and inadequate medical care have long been documented in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, where previous infectious disease outbreaks were poorly contained. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States, it became clear that ICE’s continued negligence, coupled with the vast expansion of U.S. immigration detention, would likely lead to a public health disaster.
Given the lack of transparent data and the severe health risks in congregate settings caused by the pandemic, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) staff and Harvard Medical School faculty and students sought to document conditions experienced by people recently released from U.S. immigration detention. From July 13 to October 3, 2020, the research team conducted 50 interviews of immigrants formerly detained by ICE using a standardized questionnaire covering 1) Demographics; 2) COVID-19 education; 3) Hygiene and sanitation measures; 4) COVID-19 testing and medical management; and 5) Protests and retaliation. The 50 participants were detained at 22 different ICE detention facilities – representing nine county facilities and 13 private facilities – in 12 different states. Overall, 52 percent of interviewees reported at least one comorbidity that placed them at an absolute high risk of severe COVID-19 if they contracted the virus. All study participants were 18 years of age or older, in the United States at the time of the interview, and had been held in ICE detention with a release date on or after March 15, 2020.
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