ICE has tested only 705 of the nearly 31,000 people currently in custody – By Gabe Ortiz (Daily Kos) / April 29 2020
There’s a pretty clear reason why Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wants to test only a small number of detainees for COVID-19: the more people it tests, the higher the positive numbers climb. According to the most recent data available, 425 out of 705 people have tested positive, with the worst in-custody outbreaks located in Arizona, California, Louisiana, Texas, and New York facilities.
But ICE is misleading the public, because those 705 tests represent only a fraction of the nearly 31,000 people in ICE custody as of April 18. Other detainees aren’t being tested because they’re asymptomatic and likely aren’t being prioritized for tests when, according to its own guidelines, ICE transfers people to outside care only when they’re showing “moderate to severe symptoms.” In some cases, ICE has been actively blocking the release of full testing information from the public.
Last week, NJ.com reported ICE has been blocking a New Jersey jail, which has been testing all inmates, from releasing any result information regarding immigrants detained there. “We were officially notified today that ICE has prohibited us from reporting any information regarding their detainees including all of our test results,” a local official said in the report. In another instance, Texas Observer reported that while workers inside facilities in the state have also tested positive, ICE didn’t reported them because they’re third-party contractors.
Continue to article: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/29/1941319/-ICE-has-tested-only-705-of-the-nearly-31-000-people-currently-in-custody
