Georgia, United States
At least three undocumented immigrants held in detention centers in Georgia have tested positive for COVID-19, confirmed today the Service of Immigration and Customs Control (ICE), although activists claim that cases of coronavirus in those places there are many more.
According ICE, there are two sick inmates at the Stewart Detention Center, one from Honduras and another from Bangladesh, and a Colombian in the Irwin Detention Center, and the three remain isolated from the rest of the prisoners, while several others who had contact with them were placed under observation for exposure to COVID-19.
However, according to the group Georgia Detention Watch there are five inmates who tested positive for Stewart and at least 30 suspected cases in that same detention center located in Lumpkin, in central Georgia, where at least two sick employees are also reported.
“It is like a bomb about to explode, the situation is unbearable for the detainees,” Amilcar Valencia, a member of Georgia Detention Watch and director of El Refugio, a center that helps immigrant families detained in Stewart.
The situation has led a group of detainees in the prison to hold a protest on Thursday to demand their release, for fear of catching the coronavirus due to the conditions in which they are confined, a demonstration that ended up being “repressed” by the guards, as reported by organizations and activists.
“They only made the decision to demonstrate peacefully to demand his release and they responded with repressive tactics,” said Valencia, who noted that the officers used pepper spray against the immigrants.
CoreCivic, the company that manages the prison of immigration at Stewart, he confirmed that officers put down a protest that began when a group of detainees blocked a door, covered windows, and refused to return to their beds.
“The personnel were able to successfully restore order” and no one was injured, Amanda Gilchrist, director of public relations for CoreCivic, told Efe.
For her part, attorney Azadeh Shahshahani, from Project South, asked ICE for the release of immigrants from detention centers due to the emergency situation in the country due to the pandemic of the coronavirus.
“ICE has the responsibility to release all the detainees from these horrible jails before we see a major catastrophe,” the activist told Efe.
In recent days, an increasing number of undocumented immigrants have been released from detention centers in the country after ICE it was forced to answer a barrage of demands that demand the release of immigrants at greater risk of contagion and measures to guarantee the health security of detainees.
– .
