Court orders ICE to test detainees for COVID before transfer to Tacoma detention center
Immigration and Customs Enforcement was ordered by a federal judge Monday to test detained immigrants for COVID-19 before they are transferred to a detention center in Tacoma.
In a recommendation signed by U.S. District Judge James Robart, a temporary restraining order was granted in a class-action suit brought by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the American Civil Liberties Union. Lawyers for the organization brought the suit on behalf of detainees held at the Northwest Detention Center.
The court also ordered ICE to take “all reasonable measures” to ensure detainees who test positive for the coronavirus are not exposed during transfers to detainees who test negative for the virus, according to the decision.
Lawyers filed the suit against the NWDC in May 2020, arguing detainees were vulnerable to serious complications from COVID-19 and at risk of illness or death as long as they were held in detention, according to court records.
Between March 2020 and April 12, 2021, only 34 COVID-19 cases were confirmed at the detention center, Judge Michelle Peterson wrote in the decision. In June, cases surged at the center.
The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has infected 240 detainees and employees at the NWDC since June. The surging cases drew protests outside the center Aug. 15.
June is when ICE resumed transferring detainees to the NWDC, according to the decision. Peterson wrote that since then, ICE has transferred more than 1,000 detainees from the southern border knowing they had not been tested for COVID-19.
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 9:31 AM.
