Hello there,
In the middle of a global pandemic, there’s no worse place to be than a detention center.
ICE had forced immigrant detainees into cramped, crowded, dirty, and dangerous conditions well before COVID-19. According to the ACLU, “there are no regulations or enforceable standards regarding detention conditions, including medical treatment, mental health care, religious services, transfers, and access to telephones, free legal services, and library materials.”
That kind of gross neglect is exactly why almost 75% of detainees at an ICE facility in Virginia have now tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
As one detainee told CNN: "We're just stuck in here. We can't do anything about it.”
But WE can do something about it.
WE can demand that ICE treat human beings like human beings. We can demand an end to the barbaric practice of spraying detainees with disinfectant chemicals -- an abuse of human rights that has resulted in skin rashes, bleeding, blisters, and breathing issues, among other potentially damaging effects.
But we can’t do it alone.
Thank you for standing with us,
ASPIRE
