Omar Cespedes-Gomez, MPH
Over the noon lunch hour on September 4, 2019, medical students, dental students, law students, and public health students from the University of Minnesota gathered in the sunny Northrop Plaza. They held signs reading: “Healthcare is a human right,” “#HeySenatePassHR3239,” and “Families belong together.” As speakers Kim Hunter and Veronica Svetaz detailed accounts of their experiences, the students entered a large steel cage.
Kim Hunter, one of the speakers, is passionate about keeping families united through her immigration law practice. The crowd listened intently as she explained statues and regulations governing immigration. When she became visibly moved as she recalled how she witnessed children torn from their parents, the rally became silent.
Later, Dr. Veronica Svetaz, a doctor at Hennepin County Medical Center who works primarily with adolescents and children spoke somberly of Jakelin, a brave 7-year-old girl who died imprisoned in the detention centers due to lack of proper care. Her death was preventable. Halfway through her speech, Dr. Svetaz manifested a “safety blanket” (a paper-thin metallic blanked) from her long white coat. This is the only medical care detainees get. No soap, toothbrushes, feminine products, or medicines.
The Cage-in: Human Rights Nationwide Rally was organized by The Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) chapter at the University of Minnesota to advocate for the humane treatment of people kept in Customs and Border Patrol Detention Centers. The goal was to gather national support for the Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in Customs and Border Protection Custody Act which would mandate initial health screens for detainees and sets standards for water, sanitation, hygiene, shelter, and sexual abuse reporting in detention centers. The bill also requires random inspections of facilities by the Inspector General of Homeland Security. The Act passed the US House of Representatives and reached our Senate on July 25th, 2019 where it has stalled.
Fast forward to now, the COVID-19 pandemic, we see with more clarity the necessity for a bill like HR3239 that upholds public health measures of medical screening and hygiene for people in migrant detention centers. In March 2020, ICE modified its enforcement efforts to target only immigrants who might have committed a serious criminal offense. ICE has also halted carrying out raids on healthcare facilities--although ICE claims healthcare facilities in the past were only raided in extraneous circumstances. In terms of detention, ICE has published that it screens all incoming detainees for fever, pulmonary symptoms, and exposure risks, and houses detainees deemed high risk separately for a 14 day observation period. In already crowded detention centers, it calls into question how long these protocols can keep detainees in a “Safe, Secure, and Human Environment” as the ICE National Detention Standard states.
It is only a matter of time before we start seeing cases of COVID-19 among detainees. It is particularly worrying considering the conditions in which they are being held. The facilities are crowded with no standards for hygiene such as the ones that are being recommended to stop the spread of COVID-19 of social distancing and frequent handwashing. Additionally, detainees may not get the medical care they need if they become ill. Indeed, there have been 900 cases of mumps in over the span of one year (August 2018 - September 2019) in detention centers as well as outbreaks of influenza and varicella. COVID19 has been found to be deadlier than the flu and also more contagious.
There are currently around 38,000 detainees in the ICE detention centers. As future Latinx medical healthcare professionals, we must call for the release of detainees or the use of alternative community-centered alternatives to detention. The most vulnerable should be released, including older individuals, pregnant women, and individuals with comorbidities while the processing of their cases continues. It is our duty to be informed and stay up-to-date on new policy responses to these issues. Please sign the Open Letter to ICE From Medical Professionals Regarding COVID-19 and join us in contacting local lawmakers to raise awareness of these pressing issues affecting our communities. Immigrant families may be the hardest hit community by this pandemic, but together we can advocate for those who may not be able to. As we say, “El pueblo unido, jamas será vencido.”
Bibliography
1. Dickerson C, Corasaniti N, Sandoval E. ICE Launches Raids Targeting Migrant Families. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/14/us/ice-immigration-raids.html. Published July 14, 2019. Accessed March 22, 2020.
2. ICE Guidance on COVID-19. https://www.ice.gov/covid19. Accessed March 22, 2020.
3. Leung J. Notes from the Field: Mumps in Detention Facilities that House Detained Migrants — United States, September 2018–August 2019. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019;68. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6834a4
4. Narea N. Trump’s policies are putting vulnerable immigrants at risk as coronavirus spreads. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2020/3/19/21184081/trump-coronavirus-immigration-enforcement-courts-ice. Published March 19, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2020.
5. Zero Protection: How U.S. Border Enforcement Harms Migrant Safety and Health. Physicians for Human Rights. https://phr.org/our-work/resources/zero-protection-how-u-s-border-enforcement-harms-migrant-safety-and-health/. Accessed March 22, 2020.
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