Tuscon Sentinel: How federal agencies put immigrants and immigration workers at risk amid coronavirus outbreak

“As USCIS kept most of its offices open Monday, immigrants and their lawyers were left waiting for appointments in often crowded lobbies.

While new decisions continued to be issued by the hour, the lack of aggressive action raisedthe prospect that the virus will gain a foothold in detention centers just as public health leaders are desperately trying to contain it.

Already, ICE acknowledged that one worker at a New Jersey detention center is in self-quarantine and was tested for COVID-19. The ACLU of Southern California, The Bronx Defenders, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and a coalition of advocacy groups in the South have asked ICE to release people who are most at risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19 – the elderly and those with chronic conditions such as Remón. A lawsuit filed Monday by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the American Civil Liberties Union demands that ICE release at-risk detainees at a facility in Tacoma, Washington, part of the Seattle metro area, which is home to one of the largest outbreaks in the United States.”

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