California settlement limits ICE from re-detaining immigrants freed because of COVID
This article features Government Accountability Project’s whistleblower clients, Drs. Scott Allen and Josiah “Jody” Rich, and was originally published here.
WASHINGTON — Immigration authorities must preserve coronavirus safety measures that allow for social distancing and vaccination mandates for staff and detainees at two California detention facilities, according to a class-action lawsuit settlement reached Thursday.
The settlement also limits the authority of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to re-detain hundreds of immigrants who were released as a result of the lawsuit. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed the lawsuit in April 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, to challenge unsafe conditions at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield and the Yuba County Jail, north of Sacramento.
“When we filed this lawsuit, ICE had put our clients and communities at risk by detaining as many people as possible in filthy, crowded dorms and cells, creating a tinderbox for COVID-19,” Bree Bernwanger, of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said in a statement.
As the coronavirus spread, advocates filed similar lawsuits for other detention facilities around the country.
The settlement comes as coronavirus infections in detention centers have surged since December to 3,129 — nearly 15% of the total detained...
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says his unfounded claim that Coun. Sean Orr distributed illegal drugs didn't damage his reputation, because Orr's own previous statements showed he "supported drug use." S...