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Law360 (March 16, 2020, 9:47 PM EDT ) Three civil rights nonprofits urged a federal court Monday to force U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release immigrants at a detention center in Washington state near the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., arguing that their lives are in danger.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Washington and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project said in their complaint on behalf of nine detainees that holding immigrants who are older or have medical conditions at the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center puts them at a higher risk of contracting the novel coronavirus.
In ICE detention centers, immigrants can't practice safety measures recommended by health experts such as "social distancing" or disinfection to protect themselves from contracting the virus, the groups said. Immigrants who contract the coronavirus and are older or have certain medical conditions require extensive medical care, including oxygen support and pressure ventilation, according to the complaint.
Therefore, keeping immigrants who would need intensive care if they contract the coronavirus at detention centers constitutes cruel treatment and unlawful punishment in violation of the Fifth Amendment, the nonprofits said.
"Release protects the people with the greatest vulnerability to COVID-19 from transmission of the virus, and also allows for greater risk mitigation for all people held or working in a prison, jail, or detention center," the complaint said.
Attorneys told Law360 that they are concerned ICE is not prepared to handle a potential outbreak of the virus at the agency's detention centers, where immigrants are trapped in communal spaces.
ICE has been hit with numerous lawsuits accusing it of not providing detainees with adequate medical care, including an August complaint alleging the agency has been failing to ensure centers operated by private contractors are meeting the standards of confinement mandated by federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
The ACLU is considering filing more lawsuits on behalf of detainees who are vulnerable to the coronavirus, an ACLU spokesperson told Law360. But the ACLU hopes that ICE takes action to protect detainees from the virus before the organization has to file more suits, the spokesperson said.
Eunice Cho, an attorney for the immigrants, said in a Monday statement that ICE has proven it can't protect the health and safety of detainees.
"Public health experts have warned that failing to reduce the number of people detained — and in particular, failing to release those particularly vulnerable to the disease — endangers the lives of everyone in the detention facility, including staff, and the broader community," Cho said.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
The immigrants are represented by David C. Fathi, Eunice H. Cho, Omar C. Jadwat, Michael Tan, My Khanh Ngo, Enoka Herat and John Midgley of the ACLU, and Matt Adams, Aaron Korthuis and Tim Henry Warden-Hertz of NWIRP.
Counsel information for the government could not be immediately determined.
The case is Karlena Dawson et al. v. Nathalie Asher et al., case number 2:20-cv-00409, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
--Additional reporting by Suzanne Monyak. Editing by Breda Lund.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
