Right now, nearly 30,000 immigrants and asylum seekers across the US are being held in immigration detention facilities where social distancing is impossible and access to basic hygiene items is severely limited. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, these facilities are potential tinderboxes for the virus – putting the lives of detained migrants, detention center workers, and local communities at risk.

We must act urgently. As more and more people – both detainees and workers – test positive for COVID-19, the risk of a major outbreak in detention is extremely high.

That is why we are calling on Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to urgently release people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody back to their families and communities.

A recent study predicted that without action, between 72 and nearly 100 percent of detainees could contract the virus within 90 days. Mass outbreaks in detention facilities would also overwhelm local hospitals, impacting the health of the local communities where detention centers are located.

ICE has the authority to release people from these facilities right now. Instead, they continue to ignore pleas from public health experts, elected officials, and communities themselves to suspend enforcement operations at least for the duration of the pandemic.

It's crucial we act now to prevent mass outbreaks of COVID-19 at immigration detention facilities – and save lives.

Oxfam has actively worked for years to protect the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers and uplift the crucial role they play in our economy and society. 

Thank you for standing with us and acting now to help save lives.

Noah Gottschalk
Humanitarian Policy Lead
Oxfam America