ACLU Supporter –

My fellow ACLU attorneys and I filed a recent lawsuit against ICE for denying COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to immigrants in detention, and I wanted to be sure you had all the facts.

Since March 2020, COVID-19 has posed an unprecedented threat to people locked up in ICE detention facilities – where they're routinely denied access to timely and adequate medical care and forced to live in crowded housing units.

As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads rapidly in ICE detention centers, immigrants detained in these facilities are increasingly afraid for their health and lives. That's where our litigation – filed by the ACLU and ACLU of D.C. – comes in. Here's what to know:

• Our lawsuit is on behalf of five medically vulnerable people detained by ICE, who have requested and been denied their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. These individuals have been diagnosed with medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and tuberculosis and are vulnerable to severe illness and death in the event of infection. Our litigation is demanding our clients be given booster shots.
• Our clients are not alone in this horrific treatment, either: Since January 3 of this year, COVID-19 infections have increased by more than 940% in detention centers. And yet, as of early January, ICE had administered booster shots to only 671 people in detention – even though approximately 22,000 people are detained in ICE custody each day.
• ICE also currently has no policies or procedures in place to ensure that eligible people held in its detention facilities are identified or are provided a booster shot. Failing to provide booster shots is irresponsible, cruel, and a violation of people's rights – and that's why we're suing.

ACLU Supporter, ICE is well aware that people with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable to severe illness and death – and they know booster shots are crucial protection. To not provide people trapped in these detention facilities with this care is unconscionable – and it's further evidence that our entire immigration detention system is fundamentally inhumane.

Our government should be releasing people right now, both as a public health measure in the pandemic and for good. But instead, the number of people held in immigrant detention has increased by over 50% since President Biden took office – the majority in prisons run by private corporations that are profiting from human misery.

That's why we're fighting on every front right now, in the courts, at the White House, and across the states. We'll keep you as updated as possible on our efforts – and in the meantime, thank you for your commitment to immigrants' rights, and dignity and justice for all people.

In solidarity,

Eunice Cho
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Senior staff attorney, ACLU