ICE Detainees Terrified of the Coronavirus Wanted to Be Deported. Guards Pepper-Sprayed Them.

[turbinetree]

More than 100 people in ICE custody were hit with pepper-spray in three incidents over four days.
Noah Lanard


On Monday morning, the roughly 80 men detained in one unit of the Catahoula Correctional Center had a simple request: They wanted to talk to someone from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With their legal options exhausted and one COVID-19 case already confirmed at their Louisiana detention center, they wanted out as quickly as possible—even if that meant deportation. Instead of getting ICE to answer their questions, guards doused them with pepper spray.

ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox confirmed that 83 people “came in contact” with pepper spray at Catahoula on Monday. He also confirmed two pepper-spraying incidents on Friday involving 40 people detained at the Winn Correctional Center, another Louisiana immigration jail run by the same private prison company, LaSalle Corrections.

The incidents are part of a clear pattern that has emerged in the past month: People in ICE custody demand protection from the new coronavirus and end up getting pepper-sprayed instead. Sofia Casini, the southern regional coordinator for the advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants, said, “Across the nation we are documenting instances of ICE retaliating against people in immigrant prisons for protesting medical neglect, quarantines, and denial of release.” A Mother Jones feature and podcast recently showed how one of those uses of force left 79 women trapped in a room filled with pepper spray at GEO Group’s Jena, Louisiana, detention center last month. As of Wednesday, 287 of the approximately 30,000 people in ICE custody had tested positive for COVID-19.

Catahoula is unusual in that it serves as a holding place for people who’ve exhausted their legal options and are awaiting deportation. Even absent a pandemic, that process can take months. Now it can take even longer as countries resist accepting deportation flights from the United States, a coronavirus hot spot with a record of deporting people who are infected.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/ice-detainees-terrified-of-the-coronavirus-wanted-to-be-deported-guards-pepper-sprayed-them/



November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough.....................

[mr_lebowski]

1. IQ45 and his Cult's reply: "Are there pictures? I could use some new fopping material!" (nt)

[sakabatou]

2. Once again, ICE is nothing but full of thugs

[2naSalit]

3. Concentration camps. ...nt

[0rganism]

4. what next? is Trump going to tell us pepper spray is an antiviral?

"we're looking into injections or possibly some form of inhaler, have to talk with the doctors about that, and we're already seeing some very very promising results!"

[Leghorn21]

5. K&R

Last edited Fri Apr 24, 2020, 02:48 PM - Edit history (1)

I just am out of things to say about these camps

“287 of the approximately 30,000 people in ICE custody had tested positive for COVID-19." - so we knew it would happen, and here it is

When all the ice and BP agents are sick or dead with COVID19, what will become of the people in these fucking camps. This is fucking unbearable, yet here I sit
JFC

[cayugafalls]

6. I think your quote was clipped. It was 287 of approx 30,000 who tested positive.

Just trying to help clarify.

[Leghorn21]

7. Thanks, falls - fixed

on the other hand, how long before 30,000 DO test positive?

[cayugafalls]

8. Right. With the small area and tight spaces, it is inevitable.

The small number is probably only those who are symptomatic and dying, I wonder if they are testing them all, doubtful.

This will be a huge stain on our culture forever.