MIAMI _ To help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must give soap, cleaning supplies and masks to detainees at three South Florida detention centers, and also limit transfers to other facilities, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, in an order issued just before midnight Saturday, also allowed detainees at the centers to pursue legal claims in one class-action lawsuit, rather than piecemeal litigation.
The judge stopped short of ordering that detainees be released, but the ruling _ which was critical of the government's treatment of people in ICE custody _ was still a victory for the detainees who filed the lawsuit back in April. Cooke noted that social distancing at the three South Florida ICE detention center "is still impossible," detainees aren't properly educated on the use of masks, and continued transfers of detainees to other facilities "substantially increases the risk of spread of the contagion."
"In sum, in this moment of worldwide peril from a highly contagious pathogen, the Court is not satisfied that ICE's commitment to detention has meaningfully shifted since the start of the pandemic," Cooke wrote in a 40-page order.
Cooke's order expands on an earlier order mandating the thinning of the population at three Florida detention centers because of the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
The ruling came Friday as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit seeking the release of detainees at three South Florida detention centers: Krome in Miami-Dade, the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and the Glades County detention center in Moore Haven.
For detention facilities of all types across the United States, the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus has been particularly troubling because of the close quarters and difficulty of social distancing.
The Miami-Dade jail system, which houses over 3,000 people awaiting criminal trials and serving short sentences, has had close to 500 inmates stricken by COVID-19. One inmate, Charles Hobbs, has died.
A group of community organizers filed a lawsuit against Miami-Dade County seeking the release of "medically vulnerable" inmates. A federal judge ordered the jails to issue soap, masks and disinfectants to inmates, although an appeals court halted the ruling as litigation continues.
In the immigration-detention system, organizers filed a similar lawsuit in April.
Citing "cruel and unusual punishment" behind bars, Judge Cooke later in April issued an order telling ICE to shrink its detainee populations at the centers to 75% of capacity to allow for social distancing. The order has been extended several times
The judge has also closely monitored how ICE is handling its detention centers throughout the pandemic, hearing directly from detainees, questioning how the system transfers people in custody and even ordering the agency to release information on civilian contractors who have contracted COVID-19.
ICE says it has drastically cut the population at its detention centers in accordance with the judge's orders. In the past week, ICE said in a court filing Friday, it had removed 105 people from the three facilities, some for deportation, some for other centers to prepare for imminent deportation.
But Cooke was alarmed at how the transfers were taking place. She noted that one inmate, who testified during an earlier hearing, was escorted by a guard "who was not donning a mask, despite being seated a mere two feet away from Mr. Borges."
The judge ruled that ICE must limit the transfer of "detainees to only instances regarding immediately necessary medical appointments and release from custody," according to the order. "Social distancing requirements should be strictly enforced in buses, vans, and planes," she wrote.
The judge also ordered ICE to not quarantine suspected positive detainees together until tests have confirmed that someone has the virus. The practice is known as "cohorting."
The judge's order, no longer temporary, will remain in place until a trial can be held.
