This morning, a lawsuit set forth by opponents was fulfilled by a Los Angeles federal judge, demanding that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security release records to the public about COVID-19 outbreaks and impacts on detainees at Border Patrol stations; and specifically at the Otay Mesa and Adelanto immigration detention centers.
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U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II told the Department of Homeland Security to process and complete 1,000 pages per month about demands for public information on the growing Coronavirus cases and healthcare of detainees. In his ruling, the judge said that “the information is in the public interest.” Legal aid organizations sued in court to obtain the documentation. The arguments stem from a lawsuit filed in June under the Freedom of Information Act by the Legal Aid Clinic.
The federal facilities targeted in the lawsuit include the Otay Mesa detention center and the Adelanto detention center. Border stations have been burdened particularly hard by the pandemic, as Otay Mesa facility in San Diego experienced the largest outbreak of any detention center nationwide.
Seven requests were demanded of the department. The lawsuit claims to seek medical files with personal information removed of people detained who have had flu-like symptoms or respiratory issues. They also seek to understand who has been tested or been recently diagnosed with COVID-19.
The request also demands all recordings related to what precautions were taken at the two facilities, and a count of detainees who have tested positive or sent to the hospital.
Such details “would allow the public to understand the extent and the nature of the crisis clearly occurring within Southern California detention centers and take informed steps to address and mitigate that crisis,” according to the suit.
Over a month passed since The Department of Homeland Security allowed a request for expedited processing. The lawsuit claims the agency failed to make a determination within the statutory 20 business days deadline set forth by the judge.
The request seeks records that “are critically important to assist detained persons, families and friends of detained persons, attorneys, and the general public in understanding how the government treats people in its custody who are at serious risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the lawsuit.
According to the organization, the “notoriously poor health and hygiene practices at detention centers make them particularly likely sites for COVID-19 outbreaks, and render them gravely unprepared to address such outbreaks.”
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Source: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/sep/23/judge-dhs-release-records-covid-19-outbreaks/
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