ICE Detention Centers COVID-19 Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: The federal government has reached a settlement with current and former detainees at two California border detention centers.
- Why: Detainees claim the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement-run facilities did not take steps to adequately protect them from COVID-19.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
Current and former detainees at two California U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement border detention facilities have reached a settlement agreement with the federal government to resolve allegations that they were not protected from COVID-19.
The settlement will provide detainees at the Mesa Verde Detention Center and Yuba County Jail with a number of new safety measures, including access to testing, vaccination and sanitation products.
Current and former detainees were also provided with $4 million to cover their legal costs, per the settlement.
The settlement agreement will also keep 250 detainees from being sent back to the ICE detention facilities, where the population has decreased from 462 to 62 since the class action lawsuit was filed in April 2020.
Detainees claimed the facilities were too crowded to allow for social distancing and that ICE had not taken any meaningful steps to keep them safe from COVID-19.
“Defendants failed to provide adequate testing, even if Class Members showed potential symptoms of COVID-19. And Defendants had no facility-specific plan to isolate or quarantine symptomatic or positive Class Members,” the motion for preliminary approval states.
Detainees Claim Conditions At The Facilities ‘Unconstitutional’
Further, the detainees argued that, since they were not being protected from contracting the virus, the conditions made their detentions “unconstitutional.”
“The regular influx of new entrants into already crowded facilities and the absence of regular testing for staff or Class Members created tinderbox conditions as the pandemic spread,” the motion for preliminary approval states.
Detainees have won “multiple rounds of preliminary relief” since bringing the class action lawsuit against ICE, which has previously been ordered to begin carrying out procedures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“This settlement mandates important, potentially life-saving measures that will reduce the spread of COVID in ICE detention centers and also limits the number of people in custody in these facilities during this pandemic,” said Sean Riordan, senior staff attorney for the immigrants rights program at the ACLU of Northern California, in a statement. “During this dangerous pandemic, ICE officials should be doing everything possible to release people from detention facilities.”
In December, a settlement was given initial approval between ICE and plaintiffs who claim the agency violated their rights by conducting warrantless vehicle stops and arrests.
Have you been detained in a facility that was not taking proper COVID-19 precautions? Let us know in the comments!
The detainees are represented by Martin Schenker, Timothy Cook and Francisco Unger of Cooley LLP; Amalia Wille and Judah Lakin of Lakin & Wille LLP; Angelica Salceda, William Freeman and Sean Riordan of the ACLU of Northern California; Jordan Wells and Stephanie Padilla of the ACLU of Southern California; Bree Bernwanger and Hayden Rodarte of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of San Francisco; and Emilou MacLean, Genna Beier, Jennifer Friedman, Kelly Wells and Francisco Ugarte of the San Francisco Office of the Public Defender.
The ICE Detention Centers COVID-19 Class Action Lawsuit is Rivas, et al. v. Jennings, et al., Case No. 3:20-cv-02731, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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