CENTRAL FALLS – The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a class-action lawsuit against federal immigration officials and the Wyatt Detention Center calling for the conditional release of 70 immigration detainees, the ACLU said on Friday.
The ACLU said that the lawsuit comes as the population of detainees at the facility, which has cases of COVID-19, has more than doubled in three days.
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“For months, we’ve heard public health experts warn that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention would be a hotspot for the spread of COVID-19, acting as a vector that would spread illness among detained people, facility staff, and their communities,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney for ACLU’s National Prison Project.
The ACLU said that “social distancing at Wyatt is impossible, with detained people housed in cells that are 5 feet by 9 feet.” The organization cited a recent study that concluded that nearly all ICE detainees will be infected with COVID-19 within 90 days of an outbreak within the immigration system, and between 78% and 95% of ICE detainees at Wyatt would ultimately be infected.
The organization noted that it had secured the release of three medically vulnerable ICE detainees from Wyatt three weeks ago, prior to positive cases of COVID-19 in the detention facility.
“We know, based on the many deaths that have occurred in various nursing homes in our state, that congregate living and COVID-19 are a deadly combination,” said ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorney Deborah Gonzalez. “Congregate living at Wyatt, where immigrant detainees are being held for civil offenses, is no different.”
The lawsuit claims that the continued detention constitutes a violation of the Fifth Amendment, which requires the federal government to maintain conditions of reasonable health and safety for people in custody.
