"Don't let us die": Women in ICE custody plead for release amid coronavirus pandemic

[babylonsister]

"Don't let us die": Women in ICE custody plead for release amid coronavirus pandemic
By Camilo Montoya-Galvez
April 3, 2020 / 6:00 AM / CBS News
The women detained at the for-profit jail in the small, rural town of Jena, Louisiana, hail from all corners of Latin America. Some are asylum-seekers who fled repressive regimes. Others are lawful U.S. permanent residents who were picked up by immigration authorities after serving time in prison. Some are mothers and even grandmothers.


Right now, they're all terrified.

Like many of the more than 35,000 immigrants currently in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, the women held at the LaSalle detention center in Jena feel powerless to shield themselves from the highly contagious coronavirus, which has killed more than 53,000 people worldwide, including more than 6,000 in the U.S. At least 310 people have died in Louisiana alone, where a recent surge in cases has threatened to overwhelm the state's health care system.

With at least six confirmed cases among detainees nationwide and five among detention center employees, ICE has come under intense pressure to drastically downsize its detainee population to mitigate the risk of outbreaks.

But detainees and their advocates fear ICE isn't acting quickly enough. Despite some releases, many of them compelled by a flurry of lawsuits, the agency has resisted calls to implement a nationwide policy of releasing some categories of detainees, including older immigrants, those with chronic medical conditions and asylum-seekers who don't pose a threat to the public.

Desperation among detainees has mounted. Last week, officials at the Jena facility pepper sprayed women detainees who tried to leave a housing area during a briefing on coronavirus preparations. But seven women who were there said the jail staff failed to address their concerns about lax social distancing and hygiene practices, prompting a small group to start protesting. ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said the four women who were pepper sprayed "became disruptive and confrontational," and "attempted to physically force their way out."

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"Give us an opportunity to be with our families. We're mothers," Ana, a 46-year-old Dominican immigrant, told CBS News in Spanish during a phone call from the Jena facility. "Don't let us die like this, as if we were animals. We're human beings."

more...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-women-ice-custody-louisiana-release-covid-19/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=85742165&fbclid=IwAR2lKDdmiInMtfTcVeEzsleMFBSH-uvlFt2roK9k2vPXKzJxjLqqVHvHFTw

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[gratuitous]

2. Bryan Cox, fake human being

Pepper spraying the people you're torturing, claiming they were disruptive and confrontational. Mr. Cox, if you end up like Mussolini or Ceaucescu, count yourself lucky. Because you deserve far, far worse than that.

[crickets]

3. This just can't go on. Something has to be done.

I don't know what we can all do, but what was already a crime is now even worse.

[Bayard]

4. This situation just keeps getting more hideous

How often do you think these people are able to wash their hands? Social distancing is a joke when you don't even have enough space to lay down to sleep.

I'm afraid this is a death sentence for many.

[2naSalit]

5. And likely

intentional.