California governor urged to vaccinate hundreds of detained migrants amid confusion over plans

The first death in ICE custody was in California in May

Protestors chained together at the wrist block traffic from passing on the road to the Otay Mesa Detention Center during a demonstration against US immigration policy that separates children from parents, in San Diego, California June 23, 2018 (AFP via Getty Images)

Immigrant advocates demanded California governor Gavin Newsom provide more clarity about how the thousands of migrants detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities across the state will receive the Covid vaccine in a letter on Tuesday, as detention centers across California have struggled with outbreaks.

"California has administered 6.25 million vaccines, none of which include immigrants in detention," said Lisa Knox, legal director at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, in a statement accompanying the letter, which went to the governor, state public health agency, and others.  "The silence of state officials is deafening as we approach one year of this unprecedented pandemic.  California must provide information on the vaccine in multiple languages because we know that ICE cannot be trusted to complete this task.”

The letter was signed by 19 members of the state legislature, and asks for more details about how the vaccine will be delivered in the state’s seven immigration detention facilities, most of which are privately run and have suffered above-average incidences of coronavirus.

In May, a 57-year-old Salvadoran man detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center, near San Diego, was the nation’s first Covid casualty in ICE custody. Nationally, detainees faced a 13 times higher rate of coronavirus than the general population during the early stages of the pandemic.

“COVID-19 outbreaks have taken place at every immigrant detention facility in our state, and those inside face a higher risk of contracting the virus,” Jackie Gonzalez, policy director with Immigrant Defense Advocates, added in the statement. “We need to have a plan for these facilities and this population.”

Governor Gavin Newsom, the California Department of Public Health, and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.

The letter expressed frustration that they’d heard conflicting plans about who would take the lead in vaccinating California’s thousands of detained migrants. It also noted that immigrants had reached out to the authors and said some may already be getting vaccinated in Otay Mesa, while others were worried about trusting ICE to deliver a vaccine in facilities described as “below the appropriate health and safety standards.”

“To date, we have heard conflicting reports about what agency is ultimately responsible for the vaccination of these individuals, with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the US Department of Homeland Security announcing that it would leave it up to states to decide when to vaccinate this population,” the letter reads

ICE told KQED in January the state would be leading the charge.

“Vaccines for detainees are being allocated by local and state health departments, and timelines vary based on availability and priorities within each state,” Danielle Bennett, an ICE spokesperson, said at the time. “ICE has been working with state and local health departments to ensure that the ICE detainee population is included in state vaccination plans,” she added.

But that was apparently news to Orville Thomas, who sits on the state’s Community Vaccine Advisory Committee.

“I think everyone prior to this week was under the assumption that it is federal property, so it was going to be up to the federal government,” he told KQED.

A recent report from the California Attorney General found that the state’s immigration detention centers “face systematic issues” around the use of discipline and restrictive housing units, as well as language barriers.