theintercept--2020-04-12--“Irresponsible and Dangerous”: U.S. Deports Haitians Despite Coronavirus Risks

the new epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic , deported 61 Haitians on April 7 despite warnings that such deportations could contribute to the spread of the virus in Haiti .
Public health experts fear that an outbreak could have particularly deadly consequences for the impoverished island nation , where many people lack access to basic necessities like health care and food .
Haiti lacks the resources to cope with a major outbreak of Covid-19 , warned Cate Oswald , chief policy and partnership officer for Partners in Health , a Boston-based global health nonprofit whose Haitian sister organization , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s government to respond to the virus .
For its population of 11 million people , Haiti has just 124 ICU beds and the ability to ventilate less than 70 patients , according to a 2019 study by the Research and Education Consortium for Acute Care in Haiti .
“ I ’ m nervous to see how this new disease has overwhelmed even the better-resourced health care systems , ” Oswald told The Intercept .
To prevent the virus ’ s spread , the Haitian government has closed schools and most factories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distancing measures .
However , the majority of Haitians live on less than $ 2 a day and many work in the informal sector .
The significant depreciation of the value of local currency and skyrocketing inflation have driven up prices of basic necessities like food .
For people already struggling to feed their families , staying home is a luxury few can afford .
And in the markets and public transit systems that informal sector workers depend on , it is often all but impossible to adhere to the social distancing guidelines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weaknesses of Haiti ’ s health care system , and the precarious conditions in which many Haitians live , have both been identified as factors in the deadly toll of the cholera outbreak that killed an estimated 10,000 Haitians between 2010 and 2018 .
Oswald points out that other nations were able to help Haiti respond to the cholera epidemic by sending medical personnel and supplies .
She fears that international assistance will be less forthcoming amid the Covid-19 pandemic because governments around the world are already struggling to respond to outbreaks within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Oswald said , U.S. deportations to Haiti are “ irresponsible and dangerous from a public health standpoint.
” Because none of the 61 migrants the U.S. deported had been tested for the coronavirus , the Haitian government was forced to divert its scarce resources into quarantine measures .
“ It is certainly adding a strain to the already overburdened system that has been set up , ” she said .
While more than 545,000 people in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus , Haiti has reported 33 cases of infection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how limited testing has been in Haiti — only 365 tests had been carried out nationwide as of April 9 — Oswald suspects that the actual number of cases could be much higher .
A Haitian public servant involved in Haiti ’ s coronavirus response agreed with this assessment .
“ There could be a lot of infections and some deaths that are not reported , ” the official , who declined to be named over concerns of retaliation , told The Intercept .
He warned that in addition to “ creating stress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. deportations are “ creating a very dangerous precedent.
” The deportations , which were carried out via a plane chartered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement , took place weeks after the Haitian government officially closed its borders in the wake of discovering the country ’ s first two coronavirus cases .
Haiti ’ s foreign minister , Claude Joseph , said he pleaded with the U.S. government to suspend the scheduled deportation flight .
Partners in Health , which is calling for a moratorium on all deportations amid the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. from deporting the Haitian migrants , as did the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti , a Boston-based human rights group , and several U.S. members of Congress .
A lawyer representing one of the Haitian migrants who was scheduled to be deported spoke out about the public health risks , pointing out that his client had been detained in two separate ICE facilities with reported Covid-19 cases .
Despite these concerns , and the U.S. government ’ s own public advisories , which emphasize the need to “ avoid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impact of Covid-19 , ” the U.S. deportation flight proceeded as scheduled .
Yet seven of the Haitians on board were removed at the last minute .
Among those yanked from the plane was the man who was potentially exposed to the virus in ICE custody .
ICE did not provide a public explanation for its actions and did not respond to The Intercept ’ s requests for comment .
The man ’ s wife later reported that he had been taken to another ICE facility where a detainee had tested positive for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the mobilization to stop the deportations , said the outcome left her extremely frustrated .
“ It showed me the powers that exist in that system , ” she said , and “ that we all need to be advocating for an end to deportations during this time .
”

The United States, the new epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, deported 61 Haitians on April 7 despite warnings that such deportations could contribute to the spread of the virus in Haiti. Public health experts fear that an outbreak could have particularly deadly consequences for the impoverished island nation, where many people lack access to basic necessities like health care and food.
Haiti lacks the resources to cope with a major outbreak of Covid-19, warned Cate Oswald, chief policy and partnership officer for Partners in Health, a Boston-based global health nonprofit whose Haitian sister organization, Zanmi Lasante, is coordinating with Haiti’s government to respond to the virus. For its population of 11 million people, Haiti has just 124 ICU beds and the ability to ventilate less than 70 patients, according to a 2019 study by the Research and Education Consortium for Acute Care in Haiti. “I’m nervous to see how this new disease has overwhelmed even the better-resourced health care systems,” Oswald told The Intercept.
To prevent the virus’s spread, the Haitian government has closed schools and most factories and is encouraging people to adopt social distancing measures. However, the majority of Haitians live on less than $2 a day and many work in the informal sector. The significant depreciation of the value of local currency and skyrocketing inflation have driven up prices of basic necessities like food. For people already struggling to feed their families, staying home is a luxury few can afford. And in the markets and public transit systems that informal sector workers depend on, it is often all but impossible to adhere to the social distancing guidelines recommended by public health authorities.
The weaknesses of Haiti’s health care system, and the precarious conditions in which many Haitians live, have both been identified as factors in the deadly toll of the cholera outbreak that killed an estimated 10,000 Haitians between 2010 and 2018. Oswald points out that other nations were able to help Haiti respond to the cholera epidemic by sending medical personnel and supplies. She fears that international assistance will be less forthcoming amid the Covid-19 pandemic because governments around the world are already struggling to respond to outbreaks within their own borders.
For its population of 11 million people, Haiti has just 124 ICU beds and the ability to ventilate less than 70 patients.
In this context, Oswald said, U.S. deportations to Haiti are “irresponsible and dangerous from a public health standpoint.” Because none of the 61 migrants the U.S. deported had been tested for the coronavirus, the Haitian government was forced to divert its scarce resources into quarantine measures. “It is certainly adding a strain to the already overburdened system that has been set up,” she said.
While more than 545,000 people in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus, Haiti has reported 33 cases of infection and three deaths from Covid-19. Given how limited testing has been in Haiti — only 365 tests had been carried out nationwide as of April 9 — Oswald suspects that the actual number of cases could be much higher.
A Haitian public servant involved in Haiti’s coronavirus response agreed with this assessment. “There could be a lot of infections and some deaths that are not reported,” the official, who declined to be named over concerns of retaliation, told The Intercept. He warned that in addition to “creating stress on an already vulnerable system,” the U.S. deportations are “creating a very dangerous precedent.”
The deportations, which were carried out via a plane chartered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, took place weeks after the Haitian government officially closed its borders in the wake of discovering the country’s first two coronavirus cases.
Haiti’s foreign minister, Claude Joseph, said he pleaded with the U.S. government to suspend the scheduled deportation flight. Partners in Health, which is calling for a moratorium on all deportations amid the pandemic, also mobilized to try to stop the U.S. from deporting the Haitian migrants, as did the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a Boston-based human rights group, and several U.S. members of Congress. A lawyer representing one of the Haitian migrants who was scheduled to be deported spoke out about the public health risks, pointing out that his client had been detained in two separate ICE facilities with reported Covid-19 cases.
Despite these concerns, and the U.S. government’s own public advisories, which emphasize the need to “avoid all international travel due to the global impact of Covid-19,” the U.S. deportation flight proceeded as scheduled. Yet seven of the Haitians on board were removed at the last minute. Among those yanked from the plane was the man who was potentially exposed to the virus in ICE custody. ICE did not provide a public explanation for its actions and did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment. The man’s wife later reported that he had been taken to another ICE facility where a detainee had tested positive for the virus.
Oswald, who participated in the mobilization to stop the deportations, said the outcome left her extremely frustrated. “It showed me the powers that exist in that system,” she said, and “that we all need to be advocating for an end to deportations during this time.”


theintercept--2020-04-12--“Burials Are Cheaper Than Deportations”: Virus Unleashes Terror in a Troubled ICE Detention Center

inside the Alabama jail .
A group of new detainees had just been dropped off at the Etowah County Detention Center in downtown Gadsden , and one of the men appeared sick .
Word was spreading that he and the others had been exposed to the coronavirus .
Detainees demanded that the new arrivals be quarantined .
A young corrections officer resisted , telling the men that if they did not obey his order to lock down , he would summon the “ troops.
” For the men in the unit , the implication of the officer ’ s words @ @ @ @ @ @ @ veteran of the unit , decided that desperate measures were in order .
The 35-year-old slipped between the bars of a second-story railing .
He tied one end of a rope of bedsheets to the railing .
He wrapped the other in a noose around his neck .
Thirty-nine-year-old Tesfa Miller soon joined him and did the same .
On the opposite side of their unit , a man streamed the scene on his cellphone , capturing a moment that would have otherwise gone unseen by the outside world .
“ This about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ They both about to hang it up.
” The men did not leap from the railing .
The troops never came .
Golding ’ s plan seemed to work , at least for a moment , forcing a dialogue between detainees and jail officials that led to the peaceful resolution of a heated showdown .
Nonetheless , the dramatic events that unfolded on the night of March 20 underscored a grim reality : As the coronavirus grips the nation , a rising tide of terror and a profound sense of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system .
“ We ’ re the last people to get protected , ” Golding told The Intercept .
“ If we die , so what ?
This is the attitude of the people here .
This is the attitude of the attorney general .
This is the attitude of the president.
” ICE ’ s actions in recent weeks have revealed a macabre calculation that values carceral profit over human life , Golding argued .
After all , he said , “ Burials are cheaper than deportations.
” The video of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was streamed .
Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton quickly batted it down as a hoax .
The man who streamed the event was swiftly placed in an administrative lockdown , and according to sources inside the detention center , threatened with criminal charges for use of a contraband cellphone .
In an email to The Intercept , Bryan D. Cox , ICE ’ s southern region public affairs director , said the “ brief , minor protest ” was “ based on inaccurate information.
” Cox added , “ There is no one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facility with suspected Covid-19 .
Rumors to the contrary are false and needlessly spread fear through misinformation.
” Prisons , jails , and detention centers are widely known to be major vectors of infectious diseases .
As of last week , Cook County Jail in Illinois was “ the nation ’ s largest-known source of coronavirus infections , ” according to a New York Times analysis .
On Rikers Island , the infection rate among incarcerated people has been reported to be seven times that of New York City , which is currently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases on the planet .
So far , ICE has reported 80 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among employees or detainees in two dozen facilities and one local hospital across 14 states .
Unlike law enforcement agencies in the criminal justice system , ICE has sweeping discretion to release the people in its custody for civil immigration violations at any time .
Last month , more than 3,000 doctors signed an open letter calling on the agency to do just that .
Medical experts at the Department of Homeland Security , the agency that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , describing the potential danger in the detention centers as a “ tinderbox.
” In March , a former top DHS civil rights official told The Intercept that she expects ICE ’ s current posture to result in detainee deaths .
As demands for sweeping releases of incarcerated people have mounted , several legal organizations have taken aim at ICE ’ s facilities in the South , where the agency has a particularly poor track record when it comes to medical care .
Last week , a federal judge overseeing a case brought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana ordered ICE to disclose the number of detainees it is granting and denying release to in several Southern states , including Alabama , after filings in the case revealed that ICE ’ s New Orleans field office was denying detainees parole at rates of up to 100 percent .
ICE ’ s propensity for denying parole to detainees , particularly in the age of Donald Trump , is well-documented .
As The Intercept reported earlier this year , the agency has been accused of going so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ensure that everybody in its custody stays locked up .
An email to congressional staffers obtained by BuzzFeed News last week revealed that ICE was reviewing the cases of some 600 immigration detainees who it considered particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus — a sliver compared to the thousands of individuals being released from jails and prisons in the criminal justice system across the country .
The agency has thus far offered no indication that it plans a wide-scale release of the more than 35,000 people currently in its custody .
In the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that there ’ s no story there .
“ Bottom line : ICE is following the appropriate CDC protocols to include the use of PPE , screening and testing , and cohorting of persons , ” Cox wrote in an email to The Intercept .
“ If you choose to write an article here the only version that would be factual is that the facility ’ s population is down , there are no cases , and it is fully complying with CDC protocols.
” ICE ’ s editorial preferences aside , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from inside Etowah suggest a more complicated reality .
The men held by ICE described a facility that is fundamentally unprepared , and seemingly unwilling , to protect those in its custody .
Among detainees , there is a prevailing sense that jail officials are doing the bare minimum , ticking off the necessary boxes to say they took appropriate actions should an outbreak occur .
To a person , sources inside Etowah each said the same thing about the people responsible for keeping them alive : They do not care .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suicide , dozens of Etowah detainees requested to be screened by a nurse for Covid-19 .
“ These past two weeks I felt like I had it and I got past it , ” Golding said .
“ We asked to be tested , knowing that they didn ’ t have tests , even though they ’ ve been telling us they have tests.
” It was a basic screening , Golding stressed , not a test for the coronavirus .
Golding said a nurse told him he was “ symptomatic ” and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Several other detainees were told the same , he added — none were placed in quarantine .
The Intercept asked ICE and Sheriff Horton about the claim that multiple detainees had been told they were symptomatic .
“ If you have a detainee telling you the facility has suspected cases , they are spreading inaccurate rumor to you , ” Cox wrote in an email .
While ICE has not reported a confirmed case of Covid-19 in Etowah , detainees worry that fact might have something to do with the measures the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — to proactively protect the people in its custody .
“ We have no confirmed cases because there ’ s nobody being tested here , ” Golding said .
For Tesfa Miller , the man who joined Golding on the railing , the decision to threaten suicide was no hoax .
“ That was the last desperation move on our part — the only thing that we knew that was nonviolent that could stop them from trying to just make us lock down with these people , ” he said .
As a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said his top priority is getting home to his daughter alive .
“ These are the things that keep me fighting , ” he told The Intercept .
Miller first shared his story of what happened inside Etowah with the Perilous Chronicle , an organization that tracks prison uprisings around the country .
The Perilous Chronicle provided the audio of the call to The Intercept , and Miller elaborated on his experience in subsequent interviews with The Intercept .
The lack of care toward detainees in Etowah was evident in the way that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last month ’ s protest , he argued .
“ They should ’ ve sent somebody to come and talk to us , ” Miller said .
“ Nobody came.
” If the facility is not taking the routine step of checking up on a detainee who threatened to take his own life , he asked , why should anyone believe they are taking the steps needed to contain the coronavirus ?
“ We ’ re so far removed from everything else , it ’ s like nobody notices , ” Miller said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re here , and we ’ re just hoping that we can make it out of this place alive.
” He likened the experience to being stranded on a deserted island , hoping to be rescued .
“ You know when you put the message in the bottle and you just throw it ?
” he asked .
“ That video is the message in the bottle.
” Jessica Vosburgh , executive and legal director at the Birmingham-based Adelante Alabama Worker Center , said that while she saw the threatened suicide at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a cry for help , ” it did not come as a shock .
“ Detained people in Etowah have been organizing on the inside and trying to raise the alarm about a broad array of concerns that affect their basic safety and well-being for a long time , ” Vosburgh told The Intercept .
Etowah County has a unique role in ICE ’ s architecture of detention and deportation .
For more than two decades , the agency has provided the local sheriff ’ s department with a steady stream of funds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a time .
“ The contract between Etowah County and ICE has one of the lowest per diem rates of any of these intergovernmental service agreements around the country , ” Vosburgh explained .
Capitalizing on the low rates , ICE has turned Etowah into a destination for people who are in the system long-term — including people who have longstanding roots in the country and continue to fight their cases , and stateless people whose home countries are so racked with civil strife that they can not accept deportations .
In Vosburgh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s ICE ’ s warehouse for prolonged detainees.
” Tucked away in northeast Alabama , the facility in downtown Gadsden has other advantages for ICE and the jailers it works with .
“ People are farther away from big urban centers that tend to have more social services and pro bono legal support , ” Vosburgh explained , and because the people who end up in Etowah are generally not from Alabama , they are also estranged from family members as they fight their cases .
Not only that , “ we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ circuit for appeals that is just much less favorable to the rights of detained people and noncitizens , ” Vosburgh added , “ so it ’ s somewhere that ’ s cheaper to keep people detained , it ’ s easier to keep them detained there , and it is well-known to have such horrific conditions that people just give up.
” Vosburgh recently detailed those conditions , and their relevance to the coronavirus , in a sworn court declaration .
She described a lack of “ basic cleaning supplies to maintain personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spaces clean ” ; the absence of an on-site doctor ; multiweek wait times to see a nurse ; and multiple instances over the years of jail officials ignoring or failing to respond to health concerns raised by detainees , at times with fatal consequences .
“ Etowah has a long and abysmal record of medical care , ” Vosburgh said .
“ People have died as a result of minor conditions going untreated.
” To make matters worse , she added , county jail officials have at times struggled with matters of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for example , the Birmingham News revealed that Todd Entrekin , then the sheriff of Etowah County , had pocketed more than $ 1.5 million in government funds intended for feeding detainees in his custody .
Entrekin and his wife used a portion of the funds to buy a beach house .
The sheriff , who along with Alabama Republicans aggressively fought to keep the federal dollars coming in even after it became clear the facility was failing to meet virtually all of ICE ’ s detention standards , cited a Depression-era law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He lost his bid for re-election in 2018 , making way for Horton , the current sheriff .
“ There ’ s a long history of corruption in that county , ” Vosburgh explained .
“ So it ’ s kind of hard to take at face value anything that the sheriff or other officials at the jail are saying.
” “ Michael , ” an Etowah detainee who asked that his real name not be published for fear of retaliation in his immigration case , was among the detainees who met with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael has sickle cell anemia and chronic bronchitis , conditions that have inflamed his fear of contracting Covid-19 .
For him , breathing is a daily struggle .
“ To have the virus , I would definitely , definitely be in trouble , ” he said .
Michael told The Intercept that his screening consisted of a temperature check and having his vitals taken .
“ I figured there would be more to it , ” he said .
Walking out , he felt as though he ’ d been given the run-around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that just to say , ‘ All right , we did something .
Y ’ all can ’ t tell y ’ all ’ s lawyers we didn ’ t do nothing.
’ ” Like Golding , Michael said he does not believe there is sufficient testing happening inside Etowah to confidently say that Covid-19 has not made its way into the facility .
Not only that , he added , detainees experienced hostility for requesting the screenings at all .
Normally , Michael explained , medical staff call detainees in for appointments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wanted to be screened first had to have a sit-down conversation with a jail captain .
“ I feel like I was being interrogated , ” Michael recalled .
He asserted his right to be screened , he said , telling the captain , “ I have my medical issues , so I ’ m very scared.
” The questioning left him shaken .
“ How ’ s he mad when it ’ s a life-or-death situation ?
” Michael asked .
“ People are dying by the thousands in the street.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s protest occurred is known for its unity , sources on the inside told The Intercept .
Many of the detainees have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives , and they pride themselves on understanding their rights .
The men in the unit take it upon themselves to clean the common area and do repairs .
Michael is one of the unit ’ s workers — “ a volunteer worker , ” he stressed .
“ They don ’ t pay us for nothing out here.
” As a worker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the officers who guard the unit .
In recent days , he said , those officers have shared their own fears of contracting the virus , and their concerns that senior jail officials are not doing enough to protect them .
Last week , they began wearing masks .
Detainees were recently given masks as well , and reportedly told that if they did not wear them they would be placed in 23-hour lockdown .
Still , Michael said , half of the officers , “ as soon as they get here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the unit clean was challenge before the coronavirus , Michael added .
Soap deliveries , for example , are supposed to come once a week , but often it ’ s more like every two to three weeks .
A guard distributes the delivery , which according to Michael , is usually enough for about 30 detainees .
“ There ’ s a hundred-something in this unit , and they don ’ t let them out at the same time , ” Michael explained .
“ As soon as it comes it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lack this , we lack that , or we ’ re waiting on the truck to come , ” Michael said .
“ We have to argue with them every day .
How you want me to clean but you don ’ t have no supplies ?
” There are two televisions in the unit where Michael and the others live , and they are constantly tuned to the news .
“ The most important thing right now is what ’ s going on in the world , ” he said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re saying that this is the burial ground , basically , just being incarcerated.
” Like several other detainees in his unit , Michael is from New York , and his family resides in some of the communities most hard hit by the coronavirus .
“ I recently just lost an aunt and a cousin from the virus , ” he said .
Three more relatives are sick with Covid-19 , he added .
“ We ’ ve just been praying.
” Without counselors or chaplains , handling the emotional weight of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ You ask for mental support , ” he said , “ they don ’ t have nothing.
” Many of the men locked in his unit have never experienced incarceration before , he explained .
They are asylum seekers or they overstayed their visa .
Often , they don ’ t speak English and struggle to pay the fees required to phone home .
“ It seems like nobody cares , ” Michael said .
“ Nobody asks them if they ’ re all right.
” “ We have certain workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to help , ” he explained .
Still , “ we can only do so much.
” For Golding , Etowah ’ s function is plain to see .
“ This is the place where they send you when they want to fuck you up , ” he said .
“ This is the black hole .
The entire system is working to keep this facility open because this is their money.
” “ This is politics at its finest , ” Golding added .
Those politics , and the money they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus .
On the contrary , he said , it ’ s business as usual on the inside .
Golding came to the U.S. from Jamaica when he was 9 years old .
He grew up in Queens , New York .
When he was 21 years old , he was arrested for selling cocaine base and two handguns to an undercover law enforcement team .
He was sentenced to 20 years , which was reduced to 10 years following two successful appeals .
Golding served his time in federal prison and , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He educated himself and made a commitment to nonviolent organizing behind bars .
“ My role is to make sure nobody gets hurt anytime there ’ s a situation , ” he said .
Golding has been in ICE custody since 2016 , fighting and appealing his case .
The problem , he argued , is that rehabilitation is not a factor ICE considers when assessing whether to release an individual from custody .
“ Not saying that everybody deserves to be deported or everybody deserves to stay , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yourself , you should be given that opportunity.
” Absent those kinds of considerations , people with past criminal convictions in ICE custody become the least likely population to be given relief during a crisis like the current pandemic .
“ ICE paying their contract is how this jail survives , ” Golding said .
“ Otherwise , without this contract , this jail would not be up and running .
So the politicians around here keep this jail open .
They go to Washington , they fight for this jail , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this jail.
” Lycoln Danglar , a 31-year-old legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. for more than half of his life , echoed Golding ’ s concerns .
Attorney General William P. Barr recently ordered the Bureau of Prisons to expand the group of federal inmates eligible for early release in light of the coronavirus .
Nothing comparable to that is happening for ICE detainees , Danglar argued .
“ There ’ s no pressure applied to civil detainees , people who have already served their time , people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he said .
“ My daughter is a natural-born citizen .
My mother and father are citizens .
My brothers are citizens , uncles are citizens — damn near all my family are citizens .
And they are outstanding citizens at that , pay their taxes on time and I ’ ve paid my taxes since I came into this country .
But yet , I ’ m not treated as an equal .
I made one mistake .
I got incarcerated one time .
Convicted one time.
” That one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Danglar said .
“ I ’ m fighting for my life on both sides , ” he said .
“ I ’ m fighting for my life dealing with this coronavirus issue , and I ’ m fighting for my life trying to go back home to my family.
” In the wake of last month ’ s confrontation , the ICE detainees in Etowah have been witness to a series of baffling changes in their day-to-day lives .
Earlier this month , a doctor addressed about half a dozen men in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their unit was not at capacity , they had the space they needed to stay safe .
“ His message to us was social distancing is basically only for the people in the free world , and this is the safest place for us to be right now , ” Golding recalled .
The men in the unit knew that in the absence of access to soap , gloves , masks , and other supplies , the doctor ’ s advice would be insufficient .
“ We were following this day in and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We know what the CDC is saying.
” On March 23 , advocates with the Shut Down Etowah campaign sent a letter to Horton demanding that his office “ immediately develop , execute , and publicly release evidence-based and proactive plans for the prevention and management of Covid-19.
” Horton , too , suggested that the space given to ICE detainees provided a measure of security .
“ We are so thankful and prayerful to keep Covid-19 from our jail , ” the sheriff wrote .
“ As you can imagine , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are housed within and makes social distancing a task , therefor [ sic ] , it is our utmost duty to see to it that we thoroughly screen all intakes as well as correctional officers.
” The jail had “ no positive screenings ” for inmates , detainees , or staff .
“ We have a quarantine area set aside , should such case arise , ” Horton wrote .
“ Our ICE Count is extremely low , less than 130 occupying two units with plenty of space.
” Four days after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shifted direction , moving an entire additional unit of ICE detainees into Golding ’ s unit .
“ They just doubled the population , basically stacked us in together , ” Golding said .
“ Now , instead of 56 people , it ’ s 114 people in here.
” Whereas the men in the unit used to have free rein to walk around for most of the day , they are now being released in staggered groups for limited periods of time .
“ Everybody ’ s utilizing that time to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So now you have 60 guys in a common area , and having to use the same bathrooms , having to use the same showers.
” “ There is no cleaning protocol , ” he said .
“ We use the same tables , the same showers , the same bathrooms , the same everything.
” They also breathe the same air .
“ You can not quarantine people in a jail with a central air system , ” Golding said .
“ If they spray Mace in Unit 5 , we can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The Intercept repeatedly asked ICE and the sheriff ’ s department why the ICE detainees in Etowah were consolidated .
No answers were provided .
“ That ’ s simply not something we discuss due to operational security reasons , ” Cox , the ICE public affairs official , said in an email .
In addition to consolidating its detainees in Etowah , ICE has continued to shuffle people through its various jails and detention centers around the country .
“ Buses have been coming in from Louisiana , Chattanooga , Atlanta @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Louisiana , ” Golding said .
“ ICE hasn ’ t shut their part of the business down at all.
” Among the new arrivals , Golding said , were men who had either been detained or come into contact with individuals at facilities in New Jersey and Louisiana , where ICE has confirmed coronavirus infections among detainees and employees .
In audio obtained by The Intercept , three recent arrivals at Etowah described what ICE ’ s transport process has looked like in the midst of the pandemic .
The men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detainees who were relocated from the Howard County jail in Maryland in late March .
Their journey began with a bus trip to Pennsylvania , where they boarded a plane with more than 100 other detainees , many of whom were shuttled to the airport on buses with New York license plates .
The plane was packed to capacity , the men said , with no more than four seats unfilled .
Roughly half the detainees had masks .
Prior to boarding , the men said their medical screening consisted of having their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had Covid-19 symptoms .
Confused at why they were being flown out of Maryland , each of the men independently described being told that , due to the virus , ICE ’ s facilities in Louisiana and Alabama were the only places that would accept them .
ICE denied that the men would have been given this information .
“ Whomever told you that Alabama and Louisiana are the only locations where ICE is moving detainees gave you false information , ” Cox said in email .
“ Operations continue across the nation.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ irresponsibly spread misinformation do a disservice to the communities they claim to represent.
” Dario Gutierrez , a 29-year-old from Maryland , said that when they traveled by land , the detainees could see that the outside world was largely shut down .
Inside the bus , it was as if nothing had changed .
They were handcuffed the entire time .
“ No social distancing at all , ” Gutierrez said .
“ Some people was coughing , sneezing — nothing .
No hand sanitizers .
Nothing.
” The men were flown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Jena , Louisiana .
“ You guys should ’ ve never left where you was at , ” Gutierrez recalled an officer saying .
Their arrival triggered a riot among the detainees who were already there .
“ There was a lot of fear among them , ” said 27-year-old Mumfred Amimi .
The LaSalle detainees managed to push the new arrivals out of their unit .
Amimi recalled watching a wave of SWAT-style officers working for the GEO Group , the for-profit corporation that runs the facility , swarm on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ riot team coming with shields , ” Amimi said .
The private security team was carrying paintball guns and an enormous smoke machine , Amimi said , as well as “ big , 6-foot batons — like 50 of them.
” Unable to remain at the facility in Jena , the men were moved again , this time to Etowah .
Faruk Ibrahim , a 45-year-old who has high blood pressure , high cholesterol , and diabetes , said he didn ’ t blame detainees at ICE detention centers for pushing back at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ibrahim could not understand , he said , was why he had been shipped across the country and exposed to thousands of people in the midst of a global pandemic .
“ When a president gives an order of social distance , I think that order should have been followed , ” he said .
“ They should not have put my life at risk , knowing what they know about this virus .
That is the part that is really mind-blowing to me , that any individual who listens to the news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s life at risk.
” “ I am a human being , a detainee or not a detainee , I don ’ t think I deserve to be treated that way , ” he said .
“ I have a 3-year-old daughter , a U.S. citizen .
I have 21-year-old son , a U.S. citizen .
And watching my life being put in this way , it was just mind-blowing to me.
” ICE ’ s running tally of confirmed Covid-19 infections within its jails and detention centers seems to grow by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the course of writing this story .
As the prospect of a serious outbreak , and the death that would accompany it , becomes increasingly likely , certain jurisdictions have chosen to sever their carceral ties with ICE .
Recently , Florida ’ s Monroe County chose to end its contract with the agency after more than two decades , quietly relocating nearly 50 detainees in the dead of the night .
“ That will never happen in this facility , ” Golding said .
Watching Queens , the community he grew up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the epicenter ” for coronavirus has been particularly difficult , Golding explained .
“ The funny thing , that ’ s where I want to be , regardless of what ’ s going on right now , ” Golding said .
“ There ’ s old people in New York City right now that can ’ t get their medication .
They can ’ t go to the store .
They live by themselves .
Who ’ s checking on them ?
” “ For me , it ’ s not about just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be home right now helping people , ” Golding said .
Men like him have been treated as a threat to public safety , he said , like a caste of people that owes something to society for committing a crime or lacking papers .
If that ’ s the case , he argued , “ let me redeem myself .
”

Tensions were building inside the Alabama jail. A group of new detainees had just been dropped off at the Etowah County Detention Center in downtown Gadsden, and one of the men appeared sick. Word was spreading that he and the others had been exposed to the coronavirus. Detainees demanded that the new arrivals be quarantined. A young corrections officer resisted, telling the men that if they did not obey his order to lock down, he would summon the “troops.” For the men in the unit, the implication of the officer’s words was clear.
Karim Golding, a veteran of the unit, decided that desperate measures were in order. The 35-year-old slipped between the bars of a second-story railing. He tied one end of a rope of bedsheets to the railing. He wrapped the other in a noose around his neck. Thirty-nine-year-old Tesfa Miller soon joined him and did the same. On the opposite side of their unit, a man streamed the scene on his cellphone, capturing a moment that would have otherwise gone unseen by the outside world. “This about to become a suicide,” he said. “They both about to hang it up.”
The men did not leap from the railing. The troops never came. Golding’s plan seemed to work, at least for a moment, forcing a dialogue between detainees and jail officials that led to the peaceful resolution of a heated showdown. Nonetheless, the dramatic events that unfolded on the night of March 20 underscored a grim reality: As the coronavirus grips the nation, a rising tide of terror and a profound sense of abandonment is coursing through its immigrant detention system.
“If we die, so what? This is the attitude of the people here.”
Locked in closed-off places across the country, where social distancing is impossible and failures to provide adequate medical care are longstanding, tens of thousands of people are now expecting the worst. Golding, in an interview with The Intercept, said that what happened in Etowah last month was the culmination of years of frustration on the part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at the remote Alabama facility, frustrations that have taken on life-or-death urgency with the coronavirus ripping through the United States and increasingly spreading throughout the South. Despite last month’s dramatic protest, ICE continues to send detainees to the Alabama jail, including individuals who have come through facilities with confirmed coronavirus infections. Recently, officials at Etowah consolidated two units into one, virtually doubling the number of men sharing the space overnight.
“We’re the last people to get protected,” Golding told The Intercept. “If we die, so what? This is the attitude of the people here. This is the attitude of the attorney general. This is the attitude of the president.” ICE’s actions in recent weeks have revealed a macabre calculation that values carceral profit over human life, Golding argued. After all, he said, “Burials are cheaper than deportations.”
The video of the suicide threat went viral soon after it was streamed. Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton quickly batted it down as a hoax. The man who streamed the event was swiftly placed in an administrative lockdown, and according to sources inside the detention center, threatened with criminal charges for use of a contraband cellphone. In an email to The Intercept, Bryan D. Cox, ICE’s southern region public affairs director, said the “brief, minor protest” was “based on inaccurate information.” Cox added, “There is no one in ICE custody at the Etowah County facility with suspected Covid-19. Rumors to the contrary are false and needlessly spread fear through misinformation.”
Prisons, jails, and detention centers are widely known to be major vectors of infectious diseases. As of last week, Cook County Jail in Illinois was “the nation’s largest-known source of coronavirus infections,” according to a New York Times analysis. On Rikers Island, the infection rate among incarcerated people has been reported to be seven times that of New York City, which is currently home to the largest number of coronavirus cases on the planet.
Screenshots: The Intercept
So far, ICE has reported 80 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among employees or detainees in two dozen facilities and one local hospital across 14 states. Unlike law enforcement agencies in the criminal justice system, ICE has sweeping discretion to release the people in its custody for civil immigration violations at any time. Last month, more than 3,000 doctors signed an open letter calling on the agency to do just that. Medical experts at the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that oversees ICE, have issued similar calls, describing the potential danger in the detention centers as a “tinderbox.” In March, a former top DHS civil rights official told The Intercept that she expects ICE’s current posture to result in detainee deaths.
As demands for sweeping releases of incarcerated people have mounted, several legal organizations have taken aim at ICE’s facilities in the South, where the agency has a particularly poor track record when it comes to medical care.
Last week, a federal judge overseeing a case brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana ordered ICE to disclose the number of detainees it is granting and denying release to in several Southern states, including Alabama, after filings in the case revealed that ICE’s New Orleans field office was denying detainees parole at rates of up to 100 percent. ICE’s propensity for denying parole to detainees, particularly in the age of Donald Trump, is well-documented. As The Intercept reported earlier this year, the agency has been accused of going so far as to manipulate algorithmic software to ensure that everybody in its custody stays locked up.
An email to congressional staffers obtained by BuzzFeed News last week revealed that ICE was reviewing the cases of some 600 immigration detainees who it considered particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus — a sliver compared to the thousands of individuals being released from jails and prisons in the criminal justice system across the country. The agency has thus far offered no indication that it plans a wide-scale release of the more than 35,000 people currently in its custody.
In the case of Etowah, ICE’s position is that there’s no story there. “Bottom line: ICE is following the appropriate CDC protocols to include the use of PPE, screening and testing, and cohorting of persons,” Cox wrote in an email to The Intercept. “If you choose to write an article here the only version that would be factual is that the facility’s population is down, there are no cases, and it is fully complying with CDC protocols.”
“We have no confirmed cases because there’s nobody being tested.”
ICE’s editorial preferences aside, interviews with multiple detainees and audio recordings from inside Etowah suggest a more complicated reality. The men held by ICE described a facility that is fundamentally unprepared, and seemingly unwilling, to protect those in its custody. Among detainees, there is a prevailing sense that jail officials are doing the bare minimum, ticking off the necessary boxes to say they took appropriate actions should an outbreak occur.
To a person, sources inside Etowah each said the same thing about the people responsible for keeping them alive: They do not care.
In late March, days after the threatened suicide, dozens of Etowah detainees requested to be screened by a nurse for Covid-19. “These past two weeks I felt like I had it and I got past it,” Golding said. “We asked to be tested, knowing that they didn’t have tests, even though they’ve been telling us they have tests.” It was a basic screening, Golding stressed, not a test for the coronavirus. Golding said a nurse told him he was “symptomatic” and provided him with Advil and allergy medication. Several other detainees were told the same, he added — none were placed in quarantine.
The Intercept asked ICE and Sheriff Horton about the claim that multiple detainees had been told they were symptomatic. “If you have a detainee telling you the facility has suspected cases, they are spreading inaccurate rumor to you,” Cox wrote in an email. While ICE has not reported a confirmed case of Covid-19 in Etowah, detainees worry that fact might have something to do with the measures the agency is taking — or not taking — to proactively protect the people in its custody.
“We have no confirmed cases because there’s nobody being tested here,” Golding said.
Message in a Bottle
For Tesfa Miller, the man who joined Golding on the railing, the decision to threaten suicide was no hoax. “That was the last desperation move on our part — the only thing that we knew that was nonviolent that could stop them from trying to just make us lock down with these people,” he said. As a father to an 8-year-old girl, Miller said his top priority is getting home to his daughter alive. “These are the things that keep me fighting,” he told The Intercept.
Photo: Courtesy of Tesfa Miller
Miller first shared his story of what happened inside Etowah with the Perilous Chronicle , an organization that tracks prison uprisings around the country. The Perilous Chronicle provided the audio of the call to The Intercept, and Miller elaborated on his experience in subsequent interviews with The Intercept. The lack of care toward detainees in Etowah was evident in the way that the jail responded in the days after last month’s protest, he argued. “They should’ve sent somebody to come and talk to us,” Miller said. “Nobody came.” If the facility is not taking the routine step of checking up on a detainee who threatened to take his own life, he asked, why should anyone believe they are taking the steps needed to contain the coronavirus?
“We’re so far removed from everything else, it’s like nobody notices,” Miller said. “Nobody even knows that we’re here, and we’re just hoping that we can make it out of this place alive.” He likened the experience to being stranded on a deserted island, hoping to be rescued.
“You know when you put the message in the bottle and you just throw it?” he asked. “That video is the message in the bottle.”
Jessica Vosburgh, executive and legal director at the Birmingham-based Adelante Alabama Worker Center, said that while she saw the threatened suicide at Etowah as an “escalation tactic and a cry for help,” it did not come as a shock. “Detained people in Etowah have been organizing on the inside and trying to raise the alarm about a broad array of concerns that affect their basic safety and well-being for a long time,” Vosburgh told The Intercept.
Etowah County has a unique role in ICE’s architecture of detention and deportation. For more than two decades, the agency has provided the local sheriff’s department with a steady stream of funds for housing hundreds of immigrant detainees at a time. “The contract between Etowah County and ICE has one of the lowest per diem rates of any of these intergovernmental service agreements around the country,” Vosburgh explained. Capitalizing on the low rates, ICE has turned Etowah into a destination for people who are in the system long-term — including people who have longstanding roots in the country and continue to fight their cases, and stateless people whose home countries are so racked with civil strife that they cannot accept deportations. In Vosburgh’s words, “It’s ICE’s warehouse for prolonged detainees.”
“Nobody even knows that we’re here, and we’re just hoping that we can make it out of this place alive.”
Tucked away in northeast Alabama, the facility in downtown Gadsden has other advantages for ICE and the jailers it works with. “People are farther away from big urban centers that tend to have more social services and pro bono legal support,” Vosburgh explained, and because the people who end up in Etowah are generally not from Alabama, they are also estranged from family members as they fight their cases. Not only that, “we’re in a judicial district and a circuit for appeals that is just much less favorable to the rights of detained people and noncitizens,” Vosburgh added, “so it’s somewhere that’s cheaper to keep people detained, it’s easier to keep them detained there, and it is well-known to have such horrific conditions that people just give up.”
Vosburgh recently detailed those conditions, and their relevance to the coronavirus, in a sworn court declaration. She described a lack of “basic cleaning supplies to maintain personal hygiene, keep their living and communal spaces clean”; the absence of an on-site doctor; multiweek wait times to see a nurse; and multiple instances over the years of jail officials ignoring or failing to respond to health concerns raised by detainees, at times with fatal consequences.
“Etowah has a long and abysmal record of medical care,” Vosburgh said. “People have died as a result of minor conditions going untreated.” To make matters worse, she added, county jail officials have at times struggled with matters of transparency and ethics. In 2018, for example, the Birmingham News revealed that Todd Entrekin, then the sheriff of Etowah County, had pocketed more than $1.5 million in government funds intended for feeding detainees in his custody. Entrekin and his wife used a portion of the funds to buy a beach house. The sheriff, who along with Alabama Republicans aggressively fought to keep the federal dollars coming in even after it became clear the facility was failing to meet virtually all of ICE’s detention standards, cited a Depression-era law in defense of his side hustle. He lost his bid for re-election in 2018, making way for Horton, the current sheriff.
“There’s a long history of corruption in that county,” Vosburgh explained. “So it’s kind of hard to take at face value anything that the sheriff or other officials at the jail are saying.”
“Michael,” an Etowah detainee who asked that his real name not be published for fear of retaliation in his immigration case, was among the detainees who met with a nurse recently. At 29-years-old, Michael has sickle cell anemia and chronic bronchitis, conditions that have inflamed his fear of contracting Covid-19. For him, breathing is a daily struggle. “To have the virus, I would definitely, definitely be in trouble,” he said.
Michael told The Intercept that his screening consisted of a temperature check and having his vitals taken. “I figured there would be more to it,” he said. Walking out, he felt as though he’d been given the run-around. “I feel like they did that just to say, ‘All right, we did something. Y’all can’t tell y’all’s lawyers we didn’t do nothing.’” Like Golding, Michael said he does not believe there is sufficient testing happening inside Etowah to confidently say that Covid-19 has not made its way into the facility. Not only that, he added, detainees experienced hostility for requesting the screenings at all.
Normally, Michael explained, medical staff call detainees in for appointments. This time around, everyone who wanted to be screened first had to have a sit-down conversation with a jail captain. “I feel like I was being interrogated,” Michael recalled. He asserted his right to be screened, he said, telling the captain, “I have my medical issues, so I’m very scared.” The questioning left him shaken.
“How’s he mad when it’s a life-or-death situation?” Michael asked. “People are dying by the thousands in the street.”
“How you want me to clean but you don’t have no supplies?”
The Etowah unit where last month’s protest occurred is known for its unity, sources on the inside told The Intercept. Many of the detainees have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives, and they pride themselves on understanding their rights. The men in the unit take it upon themselves to clean the common area and do repairs. Michael is one of the unit’s workers — “a volunteer worker,” he stressed. “They don’t pay us for nothing out here.”
As a worker, Michael has more interactions than most with the officers who guard the unit. In recent days, he said, those officers have shared their own fears of contracting the virus, and their concerns that senior jail officials are not doing enough to protect them. Last week, they began wearing masks. Detainees were recently given masks as well, and reportedly told that if they did not wear them they would be placed in 23-hour lockdown. Still, Michael said, half of the officers, “as soon as they get here, they take it off.” Keeping the unit clean was challenge before the coronavirus, Michael added. Soap deliveries, for example, are supposed to come once a week, but often it’s more like every two to three weeks. A guard distributes the delivery, which according to Michael, is usually enough for about 30 detainees. “There’s a hundred-something in this unit, and they don’t let them out at the same time,” Michael explained. “As soon as it comes it’s gone.”
“Every week we lack this, we lack that, or we’re waiting on the truck to come,” Michael said. “We have to argue with them every day. How you want me to clean but you don’t have no supplies?”
There are two televisions in the unit where Michael and the others live, and they are constantly tuned to the news. “The most important thing right now is what’s going on in the world,” he said. “It’s scary because they’re saying that this is the burial ground, basically, just being incarcerated.” Like several other detainees in his unit, Michael is from New York, and his family resides in some of the communities most hard hit by the coronavirus.
“I recently just lost an aunt and a cousin from the virus,” he said. Three more relatives are sick with Covid-19, he added. “We’ve just been praying.” Without counselors or chaplains, handling the emotional weight of the present moment inside Etowah is extraordinarily difficult. “You ask for mental support,” he said, “they don’t have nothing.”
Many of the men locked in his unit have never experienced incarceration before, he explained. They are asylum seekers or they overstayed their visa. Often, they don’t speak English and struggle to pay the fees required to phone home. “It seems like nobody cares,” Michael said. “Nobody asks them if they’re all right.”
“We have certain workers that speak different languages, so we try to help,” he explained. Still, “we can only do so much.”
The Black Hole
For Golding, Etowah’s function is plain to see. “This is the place where they send you when they want to fuck you up,” he said. “This is the black hole. The entire system is working to keep this facility open because this is their money.”
“This is politics at its finest,” Golding added. Those politics, and the money they represent, are not stopping for the coronavirus. On the contrary, he said, it’s business as usual on the inside.
Golding came to the U.S. from Jamaica when he was 9 years old. He grew up in Queens, New York. When he was 21 years old, he was arrested for selling cocaine base and two handguns to an undercover law enforcement team. He was sentenced to 20 years, which was reduced to 10 years following two successful appeals. Golding served his time in federal prison and, he said, turned his life around. He educated himself and made a commitment to nonviolent organizing behind bars. “My role is to make sure nobody gets hurt anytime there’s a situation,” he said. Golding has been in ICE custody since 2016, fighting and appealing his case. The problem, he argued, is that rehabilitation is not a factor ICE considers when assessing whether to release an individual from custody. “Not saying that everybody deserves to be deported or everybody deserves to stay,” he said. “But if you have redeemed yourself, you should be given that opportunity.”
Photo: Courtesy of Karim Golding
Absent those kinds of considerations, people with past criminal convictions in ICE custody become the least likely population to be given relief during a crisis like the current pandemic.
“ICE paying their contract is how this jail survives,” Golding said. “Otherwise, without this contract, this jail would not be up and running. So the politicians around here keep this jail open. They go to Washington, they fight for this jail, they do what they have to do for this jail.”
Lycoln Danglar, a 31-year-old legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. for more than half of his life, echoed Golding’s concerns. Attorney General William P. Barr recently ordered the Bureau of Prisons to expand the group of federal inmates eligible for early release in light of the coronavirus. Nothing comparable to that is happening for ICE detainees, Danglar argued.
“There’s no pressure applied to civil detainees, people who have already served their time, people who have already paid their debt to society,” he said. “My daughter is a natural-born citizen. My mother and father are citizens. My brothers are citizens, uncles are citizens — damn near all my family are citizens. And they are outstanding citizens at that, pay their taxes on time and I’ve paid my taxes since I came into this country. But yet, I’m not treated as an equal. I made one mistake. I got incarcerated one time. Convicted one time.” That one mistake should not cost him his life, Danglar said.
“I’m fighting for my life on both sides,” he said. “I’m fighting for my life dealing with this coronavirus issue, and I’m fighting for my life trying to go back home to my family.”
“His message to us was social distancing is basically only for the people in the free world.”
In the wake of last month’s confrontation, the ICE detainees in Etowah have been witness to a series of baffling changes in their day-to-day lives. Earlier this month, a doctor addressed about half a dozen men in the unit, telling them that because their unit was not at capacity, they had the space they needed to stay safe. “His message to us was social distancing is basically only for the people in the free world, and this is the safest place for us to be right now,” Golding recalled. The men in the unit knew that in the absence of access to soap, gloves, masks, and other supplies, the doctor’s advice would be insufficient. “We were following this day in and day out,” Golding explained. “We know what the CDC is saying.”
On March 23, advocates with the Shut Down Etowah campaign sent a letter to Horton demanding that his office “immediately develop, execute, and publicly release evidence-based and proactive plans for the prevention and management of Covid-19.” Horton, too, suggested that the space given to ICE detainees provided a measure of security. “We are so thankful and prayerful to keep Covid-19 from our jail,” the sheriff wrote. “As you can imagine, the jail has close proximity to all that are housed within and makes social distancing a task, therefor [sic], it is our utmost duty to see to it that we thoroughly screen all intakes as well as correctional officers.”
The jail had “no positive screenings” for inmates, detainees, or staff. “We have a quarantine area set aside, should such case arise,” Horton wrote. “Our ICE Count is extremely low, less than 130 occupying two units with plenty of space.”
Four days after Horton wrote the email, the jail shifted direction, moving an entire additional unit of ICE detainees into Golding’s unit. “They just doubled the population, basically stacked us in together,” Golding said. “Now, instead of 56 people, it’s 114 people in here.” Whereas the men in the unit used to have free rein to walk around for most of the day, they are now being released in staggered groups for limited periods of time. “Everybody’s utilizing that time to be out,” Golding said. “So now you have 60 guys in a common area, and having to use the same bathrooms, having to use the same showers.”
“There is no cleaning protocol,” he said. “We use the same tables, the same showers, the same bathrooms, the same everything.” They also breathe the same air. “You cannot quarantine people in a jail with a central air system,” Golding said. “If they spray Mace in Unit 5, we can feel the Mace coming through the ventilation.”
Read Our Complete Coverage The War on Immigrants
The Intercept repeatedly asked ICE and the sheriff’s department why the ICE detainees in Etowah were consolidated. No answers were provided. “That’s simply not something we discuss due to operational security reasons,” Cox, the ICE public affairs official, said in an email.
In addition to consolidating its detainees in Etowah, ICE has continued to shuffle people through its various jails and detention centers around the country. “Buses have been coming in from Louisiana, Chattanooga, Atlanta. Planes are flying from New York to Louisiana,” Golding said. “ICE hasn’t shut their part of the business down at all.” Among the new arrivals, Golding said, were men who had either been detained or come into contact with individuals at facilities in New Jersey and Louisiana, where ICE has confirmed coronavirus infections among detainees and employees.
In audio obtained by The Intercept, three recent arrivals at Etowah described what ICE’s transport process has looked like in the midst of the pandemic.
The men were part of a group of ICE detainees who were relocated from the Howard County jail in Maryland in late March. Their journey began with a bus trip to Pennsylvania, where they boarded a plane with more than 100 other detainees, many of whom were shuttled to the airport on buses with New York license plates. The plane was packed to capacity, the men said, with no more than four seats unfilled. Roughly half the detainees had masks. Prior to boarding, the men said their medical screening consisted of having their temperatures checked and being asked if they had Covid-19 symptoms.
Confused at why they were being flown out of Maryland, each of the men independently described being told that, due to the virus, ICE’s facilities in Louisiana and Alabama were the only places that would accept them.
ICE denied that the men would have been given this information. “Whomever told you that Alabama and Louisiana are the only locations where ICE is moving detainees gave you false information,” Cox said in email. “Operations continue across the nation.” He added that “persons who irresponsibly spread misinformation do a disservice to the communities they claim to represent.”
Watching Queens, where he grew up, become the “epicenter of the epicenter” has been difficult. “That’s where I want to be.”
Dario Gutierrez, a 29-year-old from Maryland, said that when they traveled by land, the detainees could see that the outside world was largely shut down. Inside the bus, it was as if nothing had changed. They were handcuffed the entire time. “No social distancing at all,” Gutierrez said. “Some people was coughing, sneezing — nothing. No hand sanitizers. Nothing.” The men were flown to ICE’s LaSalle Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana. “You guys should’ve never left where you was at,” Gutierrez recalled an officer saying. Their arrival triggered a riot among the detainees who were already there. “There was a lot of fear among them,” said 27-year-old Mumfred Amimi. The LaSalle detainees managed to push the new arrivals out of their unit. Amimi recalled watching a wave of SWAT-style officers working for the GEO Group, the for-profit corporation that runs the facility, swarm on the protesters.
“I could see the riot team coming with shields,” Amimi said. The private security team was carrying paintball guns and an enormous smoke machine, Amimi said, as well as “big, 6-foot batons — like 50 of them.”
Unable to remain at the facility in Jena, the men were moved again, this time to Etowah. Faruk Ibrahim, a 45-year-old who has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, said he didn’t blame detainees at ICE detention centers for pushing back at the introduction of new arrivals. What Ibrahim could not understand, he said, was why he had been shipped across the country and exposed to thousands of people in the midst of a global pandemic. “When a president gives an order of social distance, I think that order should have been followed,” he said. “They should not have put my life at risk, knowing what they know about this virus. That is the part that is really mind-blowing to me, that any individual who listens to the news or watches the news would put someone’s life at risk.”
“I am a human being, a detainee or not a detainee, I don’t think I deserve to be treated that way,” he said. “I have a 3-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen. I have 21-year-old son, a U.S. citizen. And watching my life being put in this way, it was just mind-blowing to me.”
ICE’s running tally of confirmed Covid-19 infections within its jails and detention centers seems to grow by the day— it more than doubled in the course of writing this story. As the prospect of a serious outbreak, and the death that would accompany it, becomes increasingly likely, certain jurisdictions have chosen to sever their carceral ties with ICE. Recently, Florida’s Monroe County chose to end its contract with the agency after more than two decades, quietly relocating nearly 50 detainees in the dead of the night. “That will never happen in this facility,” Golding said.
Watching Queens, the community he grew up in, become the “epicenter of the epicenter” for coronavirus has been particularly difficult, Golding explained. “The funny thing, that’s where I want to be, regardless of what’s going on right now,” Golding said. “There’s old people in New York City right now that can’t get their medication. They can’t go to the store. They live by themselves. Who’s checking on them?”
“For me, it’s not about just getting out of jail — I can be home right now helping people,” Golding said. Men like him have been treated as a threat to public safety, he said, like a caste of people that owes something to society for committing a crime or lacking papers. If that’s the case, he argued, “let me redeem myself.”


theintercept--2020-04-12--Why the Stock Market Is Healthy as Americans Die From Coronavirus

the S & P 500 went up 301 points , or 12 percent , its best performance in 46 years .
During the same week , the reported number of Americans killed by Covid-19 went up 11,499 , or 161 percent , the coronavirus ’ s best performance ever .
So this seems like a good time to reevaluate our treasured belief that a rising stock market reflects general human flourishing .
Consider a few more events that happened this week around the same time as this excited tweet from Donald Trump , who somehow is the president of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Covid-19 death toll that day topped 2,000 for the first time .
It is now , according to a San Diego gerontologist , the leading cause of death in the U.S. , beating out the traditional champions , heart disease and cancer .
New data showed that Covid-19 is killing African Americans and Latinos in New York City at rates twice that of whites , with a similar disjunction in rates appearing across the country .
Also last week , over 6 million Americans filed for unemployment .
The chief economist at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firms in the U.S. , said this demonstrated that “ the carnage in the American labor market continued unabated.
” The recent cumulative total of the newly unemployed is 16.8 million people , or about one in 10 workers .
As Americans were thrown out of work and into sudden fear of hunger , our economic system encouraged farmers to intentionally destroy their crops .
At least 60,000 gallons of milk were dumped into dairy farm manure pits , traditionally the last place you like to see food .
Milking cows were sent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crushed rather than hatched .
A report sent to the White House on Tuesday from the National Academy of Sciences cast doubt on hopes that the novel coronavirus will naturally diminish in the spring and summer .
“ A decrease in cases with increases in humidity and temperature elsewhere should not be assumed , ” the report explained .
“ Pandemic influenza strains have not exhibited the typical seasonal pattern of endemic/epidemic strains.
” Amid all of this , Trump demonstrated that he apparently believes Covid-19 is a disease caused by bacteria , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between bacteria and viruses is often taught around fifth grade , when children are 10 years old .
The combination of this bad news with the stock market ’ s ebullience makes it tough not to think that it actively delights in human suffering .
During the 1990s in particular , it was notorious for leaping upward when corporations announced massive layoffs .
What would truly make the stock market skyrocket , you might think by now , would be nuclear war followed immediately by a gigantic asteroid striking Manhattan .
A hideously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Earth , would shriek “ Dow 10,000,000 !
” just before expiring .
This is not the case , however .
Rather , the stock market is simply agnostic about human happiness .
It ’ s just a best-guess measure of future post-tax corporate profitability .
If future post-tax corporate profitability is compatible with people being alive and having enough to eat , that ’ s OK .
If not , that ’ s likewise totally fine .
We ’ re just not part of the equation .
Looked at through this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ latest behavior is easy to understand .
As Dean Baker , senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington , D.C. , puts it : “ We should take the recent jump to mean that investors are betting that Congress and Trump just gave them lots of money.
” That ’ s the true meaning of this week ’ s odd combination of events .
Your grandmother can die of Covid-19 minutes after being discharged from the hospital .
Nurses can be forced to protest their employers failing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could fail completely at developing a test for the virus .
All of that is irrelevant .
What matters is that the Trump administration will pay any price , bear any burden , meet any hardship to keep big corporations alive and profitable .
That is , from the GOP ’ s perspective , the sole legitimate function of the U.S. government .
And given their ferocious commitment and the government ’ s financial firepower , they have a plausible shot at success .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump anytime the stock market goes up .
You may be reading them while picking up sanitized food containers from a soup kitchen , or auctioning off the wreckage of your bankrupt small business , or attending a funeral via Zoom .
Or you may just hazily hear them being celebrated on Fox while intubated and sedated .
None of that will matter , from the perspective of the stock market .
What we should all see clearly now is that it can giddily thrive , even as America disintegrates around it .

Photo Illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept; Getty Images
This past week the S&P 500 went up 301 points, or 12 percent, its best performance in 46 years.
During the same week, the reported number of Americans killed by Covid-19 went up 11,499, or 161 percent, the coronavirus’s best performance ever.
So this seems like a good time to reevaluate our treasured belief that a rising stock market reflects general human flourishing.
Consider a few more events that happened this week around the same time as this excited tweet from Donald Trump, who somehow is the president of the United States:
This week, in only 4 days, we had the biggest Stock Market increase since 1974. We have a great chance for the really big bounce when the Invisible Enemy is gone! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2020
Hurrah! Meanwhile, the Covid-19 death toll that day topped 2,000 for the first time. It is now, according to a San Diego gerontologist, the leading cause of death in the U.S., beating out the traditional champions, heart disease and cancer. New data showed that Covid-19 is killing African Americans and Latinos in New York City at rates twice that of whites, with a similar disjunction in rates appearing across the country.
Also last week, over 6 million Americans filed for unemployment. The chief economist at RSM, one of the largest accounting firms in the U.S., said this demonstrated that “the carnage in the American labor market continued unabated.” The recent cumulative total of the newly unemployed is 16.8 million people, or about one in 10 workers.
As Americans were thrown out of work and into sudden fear of hunger, our economic system encouraged farmers to intentionally destroy their crops. At least 60,000 gallons of milk were dumped into dairy farm manure pits, traditionally the last place you like to see food. Milking cows were sent to slaughter. Fertilized chicken eggs were crushed rather than hatched.
A report sent to the White House on Tuesday from the National Academy of Sciences cast doubt on hopes that the novel coronavirus will naturally diminish in the spring and summer. “A decrease in cases with increases in humidity and temperature elsewhere should not be assumed,” the report explained. “Pandemic influenza strains have not exhibited the typical seasonal pattern of endemic/epidemic strains.”
Amid all of this, Trump demonstrated that he apparently believes Covid-19 is a disease caused by bacteria, rather than a virus. The difference between bacteria and viruses is often taught around fifth grade, when children are 10 years old.
The combination of this bad news with the stock market’s ebullience makes it tough not to think that it actively delights in human suffering. During the 1990s in particular, it was notorious for leaping upward when corporations announced massive layoffs.
What would truly make the stock market skyrocket, you might think by now, would be nuclear war followed immediately by a gigantic asteroid striking Manhattan. A hideously mutated Jim Cramer, the last man on Earth, would shriek “Dow 10,000,000!” just before expiring.
This is not the case, however. Rather, the stock market is simply agnostic about human happiness. It’s just a best-guess measure of future post-tax corporate profitability. If future post-tax corporate profitability is compatible with people being alive and having enough to eat, that’s OK. If not, that’s likewise totally fine. We’re just not part of the equation.
Looked at through this lens, the stock market’s latest behavior is easy to understand. As Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., puts it: “We should take the recent jump to mean that investors are betting that Congress and Trump just gave them lots of money.”
That’s the true meaning of this week’s odd combination of events. Your grandmother can die of Covid-19 minutes after being discharged from the hospital. Nurses can be forced to protest their employers failing to provide them with basic personal protective equipment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could fail completely at developing a test for the virus. All of that is irrelevant.
What matters is that the Trump administration will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship to keep big corporations alive and profitable. That is, from the GOP’s perspective, the sole legitimate function of the U.S. government. And given their ferocious commitment and the government’s financial firepower, they have a plausible shot at success.
So get ready for further triumphalist tweets from Trump anytime the stock market goes up. You may be reading them while picking up sanitized food containers from a soup kitchen, or auctioning off the wreckage of your bankrupt small business, or attending a funeral via Zoom. Or you may just hazily hear them being celebrated on Fox while intubated and sedated.
None of that will matter, from the perspective of the stock market. What we should all see clearly now is that it can giddily thrive, even as America disintegrates around it.