Wuhan Epidemic: ACLU Sues to Release Migrants from Detention Centers

The ACLU is asking a judge to release migrants from a Seattle detention center because China’s Wuhan epidemic is spreading through the state.

“Public health experts say releasing immigrant detainees who are at heightened risk for COVID-19 due to age or medical condition is “a critically important way to meaningfully mitigate that risk,” said a tweet from the ACLU, which opposes most border enforcement.

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{snip} The Department of Homeland Security considers Wuhan to be a major risk and has reportedly shut down family visits to minimize the chance of a disease outbreak in a detention center.

One fix to the dilemma would be a rapid return of the illegal migrants to their home countries, according to Jessica Vaughan, the policy director at the Center for Immigration studies. {snip}

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The virus is already forcing border agencies to screen deportees before they are sent back to cooperating countries, including Guatemala and El Salvador. Deportees with high temperatures are kept off the returns flights out of concern that the deportees might carry the disease from U.S. detention centers into the vulnerable countries and possibly wreck the countries’ cooperation.

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Pro-migration Democrats are also urging the release of many migrants into the United States. “We urge you to prioritize the health and safety of those in your custody and employment by reducing detention numbers in a safe and swift manner, including by expeditiously placing children in homes and releasing non-priority detainees,” said the March 13 letter signed by the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Joaquin Castro, (D-Texas).

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