Judge Orders ICE to Release 10 Immigrants from Detention in NJ

March 28, 2020

From Politico’s Josh Gerstein:

In her order issued Thursday evening, [US District Court Judge Analisa] Torres also sharply criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for inadequate preparation for the outbreak and a lack of safeguards for the most vulnerable detainees.

“Respondents have exhibited, and continue to exhibit, deliberate indifference to Petitioners’ medical needs,” the judge wrote.

She noted that ICE-claimed detainees are being screened for the virus, isolated if suspected of infection and that cleaning of facilities has been stepped up.

However, Torres called those measures “patently insufficient to protect” the detainees in the case before her and she noted that lawyers representing ICE could not provide “any information about steps taken to protect high-risk detainees.”