By: Sam Morgen ~ May 8, 2020
Advocates for immigrants detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield say the federal government has transferred most of the women out of the facility, apparently leaving one of the dorms virtually empty.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released 13 women from Mesa Verde on Thursday, and slated three for deportation, according to Jordan Wells, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
With the agency’s action, no more women were being held at Mesa Verde, said Tania Bernal, an advocate with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, potentially leaving one of the four 100-bed dorms at the facility empty.
Wells said attorneys had worked through the night to prevent the deportation of two of the three women, with two OK’d for release and the fate of the other unclear by Friday afternoon.
Around 400 immigrant detainees at Mesa Verde and the Yuba County Jail are involved in a class-action lawsuit against ICE demanding their release. In the lawsuit, the detainees claim the cramped conditions and lack of access to hygiene products put them especially at risk to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
No positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported at Mesa Verde. However, the agency has acknowledged 788 detainees have tested positive nationwide, and on Wednesday, San Diego County officials confirmed the first death of a man in ICE custody from coronavirus.
An ICE spokesperson wrote in an email the agency’s policy on pending litigation prevented it from commenting on the Mesa Verde releases.
On April 29, Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order in response to the lawsuit, and ordered a review process to identify people to be released to enable social distancing. The process has been ongoing ever since.
“Overall, we’re very pleased for class members to be free from the unsafe conditions of Mesa Cerde, but we still have a long way to go,” Wells said.
Bernal described an emotional scene outside the detention center as the detainees were let out.
“They couldn’t believe that they were out,” she said, adding that some were between 18 and 23 years old, and had been in detention for up to three years. “So for them to be released it was a huge shock.”
She added that some of the women were still in Bakersfield and had been set up in hotels as they planned their next steps.
Source: Sam Morgen ~ May 8, 2020
