A group of hundreds of law professors from around the country, joined by some researchers and other academics, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Monday urging that detainees in all the US’s immigration facilities be released to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The letter was addressed to Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of DHS, as well as the acting heads of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the US Border Patrol Chief. “It is the responsibility of DHS, ICE, and CBP to act immediately to prevent further foreseeable illness and death in American detention facilities,” the signatories stated, arguing that civil detention was unjustifiable during the current pandemic.

The letter-writers note that nearly one million people are confirmed to have COVID-19 nationwide, with more than 50,000 deaths as of Monday, when the letter was written. At the same time, they note, ICE and CBP are detaining over 30 thousand people in “overcrowded close quarters … often not given adequate health care and treatment.” “There have already been reports,” the letter states, “of detainees who have contracted COVID-19 in detention camps, and of inadequate or non-existent treatment.” The letter contrasts the situation at immigration detention facilities with prisons and jails around the country that have been releasing some inmates out of concern for inmate safety and that of the broader public.

The letter notes a recent decision in federal court in California, where a federal judge held that detainees’ constitutional rights were violated if confinement places them in harm’s way and ordered some specific detainees released. “The Government cannot act with a callous disregard for the safety of our fellow human beings,” that judge wrote.

The authors of Monday’s letter note that the agencies’ justification for civil detention of asylum-seekers rings hollow, especially when detaining them poses risks to their health. The primary justification, they point out, is “to ensure that people will attend their immigration court hearings.” In a 2019 study of government data, the authors note, nearly all immigrants—both those who were detained and those who were not—attended their hearings. The letter also urges the agencies to improve the hygienic conditions and health measures in their facilities in the interim.

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