Washington, D.C. (April 16, 2020) – Video and transcript are now available from the Center for Immigration Studies virtual panel, “ICE Detention and the Pandemic,” held Monday. The Center’s event provided background and analysis of detention protocol, conditions during the medical crisis, and safety and legal implications of releases.

Andrew Arthur, the Center’s resident fellow in law and policy, commented that detention keeps detainees safe as it limits their exposure to the virus, unlike in the general population, and maximizes their access to medical care.

Arthur also stressed that federal law requires that these individuals be detained. Most circuits that have reviewed the matter have said that habeas is not an appropriate vehicle for district courts to review conditions of confinement, absent some sort of constitutional violation that’s going to seriously impact the health or lead to the death of an individual.  If the request is for equitable relief to remedy a constitutional violation, the remedy is modification of the conditions of confinement to address the alleged violation – not release.

Panelist Bristol County (Mass.) Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who has been forced by a federal judge to release detainees from the Bristol House of Correction on humanitarian claims despite having no coronavirus cases amongst the detainees, described some of the detention protocols.

• Access to medical care 24/7
• No visitors permitted access
• No vendors permitted access
• All staff have temperature taken before entering the facility
• All units are sanitized three times a day
• A negative pressure chamber is available
• Plenty of space for isolation and quarantine

Dan Cadman, a Center fellow with over 30 years of experience at ICE and INS before that, stated that “the medical standards that are applied to immigration detainees are pretty rigorous. And they’re not just in accordance with the National Detention Standards, but they meet with National Correctional Association standards.”

Panel Video
Panel Transcript
Bristol County Sheriff's Office Prisoner Release Alert System
Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's Letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren

The sheriff announced the new Prisoner Release Alert System. “Every day now we are going to release what we call the prisoner release alert, and it’s going out to all the media outlets and to the people of our communities to let them know that these are the kinds of crimes that have been committed by the individuals that are being released every day by this judge.” The official announcement lists many crimes, including rape, robbery, assault, fraud, and trafficking fentanyl.

In addition to serious convictions and/or charges, “some of the released detainees had final removal orders from an immigration judge to be deported to their country of origin, but are instead free to roam the neighborhoods of our communities…they will, of course, not turn themselves back in after the virus.”

Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and moderator of the panel, reminded listeners that ICE’s Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, VOICE, provides a voice for victims and can be reached at 855-488-6423.