HEALTH ADVOCACY
Activists Charge ICE Detention Is COVID-19 Risk
Never Again Action calls on Cuomo to release inmates under emergency powers
BY DONNA ACETO
A group organized last
summer by Jewish activists
opposed to the
federal Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
detention of more than 50,000 undocumented
immigrants is now
calling for the emergency release of
those detainees because of the risk
they face from COVID-19 while in
confi nement.
Never Again Action is pressing
governors across the nation to use
their executive power to order the
release of immigrant detainees
within their states in the interest
of the immigrants’ safety and the
broader public health.
On the evening of March 20,
Never Again Action members gathered
outside the Thurgood Marshall
Federal Courthouse located
close to the ICE fi eld offi ce in Lower
Manhattan’s Foley Square. Noting
that there are 10 detention centers
in the New York metropolitan area,
the demonstrators demanded that
Governor Andrew Cuomo move
to release those held in facilities
Never Again Action’s projection against the Thurgood Marshall Federal Courthouse on March 20 pointing
out that Anne Frank died of an infectious disease linked to her cramped confi nement.
within New York State.
Explicitly linking the confi nement
of undocumented immigrants
to the rounding up of European
Jews during the Holocaust,
the group argues, “Anne Frank
didn’t die in a gas chamber. Anne
Frank died because she caught an
infectious disease in a concentration
DONNA ACETO
camp. We have seen this before.
We won’t let it happen again.
Never again is now.”
The activists projected an image
of Anne Frank onto the courthouse
façade that explained that the famous
Dutch Jewish teenage diarist
died of typhus in a cramped,
inhuman camp.
“Refusing to free refugees during
a pandemic is the height of reckless
cruelty,” said protestor Brad Cohn.
“I hope Governor Cuomo has either
the compassion — or, lacking that,
the instinct for self-preservation —
to protect all of us by liberating the
most vulnerable among us.”
A written release from Never
Again Action noted that there have
been confi rmed COVID-19 cases
among staff at the privately-operated
ICE facility in Elizabeth, New
Jersey, and that detainees held in
Aurora, Colorado, may also have
been exposed to infection.
In three detention facilities in
New Jersey, immigrants being held
are on a hunger strike, and the
group last week also did an action
at the Essex County Correctional
Facility. It is calling for Governor
Phil Murphy, like Cuomo, to release
detainees held within his state.
Spokespeople for Cuomo and
Murphy did not immediately respond
to a request for comment on
whether each governor believed he
had the authority to order the release
of federal detainees, and if so
whether he intended to do so.
Help Demanded for At-Risk Prisoners, Homeless Folks
Incarceration and housing insecurity are spotlighted as virus strengthens grip on NYC
BY MATT TRACY
Advocacy groups and
elected offi cials have
ramped up calls to release
vulnerable and
elderly individuals from custody
and ensure that homeless folks receive
the assistance they need in
the face of a sudden health crisis
poised to wreak havoc on communities
for the foreseeable future.
For weeks, advocates have
sounded alarms about the looming
health dangers facing vulnerable
incarcerated individuals who
might have to endure unavoidable
risks if COVID-19 is introduced into
a prison setting. VOCAL-NY was
among groups that issued a written
statement as early as March 10
demanding that Governor Andrew
Cuomo use his clemency power to
release incarcerated New Yorkers
vulnerable to coronavirus, including
older people, pregnant women,
and those with serious illnesses
and compromised immune systems.
The city’s Department of Correction
has tallied 39 cases of COVIDNY
among those in custody and
21 cases among staff. Among others,
the Legal Aid Society, the New
York City Board of Corrections,
and Congressmembers Hakeem
Jeffries, Jerrold Nadler, and Nydia
Velázquez have called for action
to remove vulnerable populations
from custody, and those House
members have asked US attorneys
and courts to explore which individuals
could be eligible for release
under the current unprecedented
circumstances.
There is also attention on the
plight of individuals in custody
of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE), which was already
tied to poor living conditions
before the coronavirus outbreak.
The Bronx Defenders and the Legal
Aid Society on March 23 fi led
for a temporary restraining order
intended to bring about the release
of ICE clients who are at most at
risk of contracting coronavirus.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
at a March 23 press conference
that 75 people have been released
from city jails, with up to 200
more releases forthcoming pending
a review process. He also said
the city is increasing healthcare
services for those in city custody
and stressed that there is a great
deal of space available on Rikers
Island because of the reduction in
the city’s jail population in recent
years.
➤ VULNERABLE FOLKS, continued on p.15
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