Sign the petition re: immigrants and the coronavirus

Immigrants are being forced unnecessarily into unsafe conditions in ICE detention during the coronavirus. Sign now to #FreeThemAll

Dear MoveOn member,

Doctors are calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention a "tinderbox," because the conditions are ripe for the coronavirus to run rampant.¹ There have already been 10 reported deaths in ICE custody in the past six months alone, and multiple ICE officers and people detained have tested positive for COVID-19.

Acting Director of ICE Matthew Albence must act now, before it is too late and the virus spreads like wildfire through detention centers. The answer is clear: Release people now.

Sign the petition: To prevent a massive coronavirus outbreak, acting ICE Director Matthew Albence must release all immigrants in detention.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we call on ICE to immediately release everyone in immigration detention. Jails, prisons, and detention centers are sites where people are acutely vulnerable to health complications and the impact of outbreaks. Depriving people of their freedom during this national health crisis dramatically increases the risk of deaths in detention.

No one needs to be in ICE detention as they wait for their case to work through the courts.² Forcing people to remain there during the coronavirus pandemic is cruel and inhumane. Along with ICE's already horrific record of medical neglect and denying basic necessities for maintaining health and sanitation, people locked up in immigration detention are extremely vulnerable to the spread of infectious disease, because they are unable to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves, such as social distancing and regularly sanitizing. This is unacceptable, and people detained must be released immediately.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks for all you do.

—Silky Shah, Detention Watch Network

Sources:

1. "Doctors warn of 'tinderbox scenario' if coronavirus spreads in ICE detention," CNN, March 20, 2020

https://act.moveon.org/go/119450?t=10&akid=261277%2E10220574%2EwAYEoC

 

2. "Abolish Immigration Prisons," The New York Times, December 2, 2019

https://act.moveon.org/go/119451?t=12&akid=261277%2E10220574%2EwAYEoC

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