A Peruvian man has been hospitalized for tuberculosis after being detained in a detention center run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a lawyer representing the man.
The man was held at an Alaska jail alongside 40 other individuals after he was flown to Anchorage from a Tacoma regional immigration detention center. This transportation came from a deal between ICE and the state in an attempt to tackle overcrowding, as reported by Anchorage Daily News.
The man, who was seeking asylum, remained at Cook Inlet Pretrial Facility from June 8 to June 30, according to his attorney Sean Quirk. He was then flown back to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington.
Quirk was reportedly unable to get in contact with his client for days, calling the facilities in which he was allegedly being detained repeatedly. He only learned of his client's hospitalization when he failed to appear for a virtual hearing.
The lawyer attempted to speak to his client over the phone, calling numerous Tacoma-area hospitals in order to get in contact with him. At one point, a nurse attempted to hand a phone to his client while Quirk was on the call, but an ICE agent allegedly intervened and prevented the man from taking the call.
Quirk was eventually able to get in contact with his client. How the man contracted tuberculosis or where he contracted it from is still unknown.
State corrections officials have stated that the detainees were properly screened for potential diseases before their detention, and have further claimed that no larger outbreak has occurred within the facility.
Furthermore, as of Wednesday afternoon, there have been "no reported cases of (tuberculosis) in any facilities," a spokesperson from the Alaska Department of Corrections told the outlet.
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