Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

More Than 2,200 Quarantined in US Immigration Jails

More than 2,200 people exposed to the mumps virus in at least two immigration jails have been quarantined, authorities said Tuesday.

PHOENIX (AP) — More than 2,200 people exposed to the mumps virus in at least two immigration jails have been quarantined, authorities said Tuesday.

(ACLU photo)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the 25-day quarantine began March 7 at jails in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, and Aurora, Colorado.

The outbreak has renewed long-held concerns over access to medical care at immigration prisons, especially at a time when more immigrants who are crossing the border are being held and for longer periods. There are nearly 47,000 immigrants detained around the country, according to an ICE spokesman.

ICE says 236 detainees have had confirmed or probable cases of mumps in 51 facilities in the past year. There were no reported cases between 2016 and 2018 at any ICE facilities.

Mumps is extremely rare, and infections have dropped by 99 percent since vaccinations began in the late 1960s. It can spread quickly through coughing, sneezing or even talking; symptoms include swollen glands, fever, headache, muscle aches and pain while chewing or swallowing.

Laura Lunn, managing attorney for the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network's detention program, said her organization has about a dozen clients who are quarantined in Aurora. Lunn said the facility has made her clients available for meetings as long as they wear a mask, but that she's concerned about the health and safety of her staff, and is looking at alternate ways to meet with them.

None of her clients actually have mumps and all are Mexican or Central American men.

"The most profound restriction is people are not being taken for immigration court. They aren't able to move forward with their cases and it's prolonging their detention," Lunn said.

Immigrant advocates have long said that medical care at immigration jails is subpar, and they've filed several lawsuits after deaths or injuries in detention.

Elizabeth Jordan of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center said screenings at immigration detention centers are inadequate. She said she doesn't have any clients who are quarantined in Aurora, but regularly interviews detainees there and has had clients there in the past.

"Neglect, I think, is not really strong enough to describe what's happening in there," Jordan said. For example, there's only one physician on staff, Jordan said.

ICE spokeswoman Alethea Smock said there are 271 detainees quarantined in four pods in the Aurora jail. More than 1,200 detainees are housed there.

ICE officials said its quick reaction has led to a very low transmission rate and that it's monitoring detainees and employees for signs of illness at the facility, which has seen a spike in the number of detainees who came through the southern border. They say they have taken a number of measures to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, such as initial medical screening and a full medical check-up within 14 days.

Jordan said it's difficult for immigrants who are quarantined to see their attorneys. She had clients who were quarantined at a jail in California last year after a chicken pox outbreak that she couldn't reach to relay important information about their cases.

Jordan said the Aurora location has a phone system attorneys can use to reach detainees.

In Pine Prairie, about 65 miles northwest of Lafayette, about 300 detainees are quarantined, spokesman Bryan D. Cox said. Cox said those who are in what the agency calls a medical cohort still have access to outdoor recreation and dining, it's just that they have to stick with the people they're quarantined with. Detainees also have access to attorneys and are offered a mask.

Cox said 18 people have had mumps at the Pine Prairie facility. They come from eight countries and were arrested between June of last year and January 2019.

Categories / Government, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...