Mumps and other epidemics force US detention centers to quarantine more than 2,000 migrants

(Reuters) – After finding a lawyer to help him seek asylum, Christian Mejia thought he could escape his immigration detention in rural Louisiana.

Then he was quarantined.

In early January, an outbreak of mumps at the US Immigration and Enforcement Customs (ICE) treatment center, a private initiative, forced Mejia and hundreds of other inmates to be arrested. "When there is only one person who is sick, everyone pays," said 19-year-old Mejia in a telephone interview at the Pine Prairie Center, describing weeks without visits and without access to the library and the refectory.

His lawyer was not allowed to enter, but his trial in the Immigration Court continued – by videoconference. On February 12, the judge ordered that Mejia be sent back to Honduras.

The number of people detained in the Trump administration's immigration center has reached record highs, raising concern among migrants' rights defenders about the epidemics and quarantines that limit access legal services.

As of March 6, more than 50,000 migrants were in detention, according to ICE data.

Internal e-mails reviewed by Reuters reveal the complications of managing outbreaks such as Pine Prairie, as inmates are often transferred across the country and infected people may not have disease symptoms viral, even when they are contagious.

Mumps can easily spread through saliva droplets in the air, especially in close quarters. Although most people recover within a few weeks, complications include swelling of the brain, infertility, and hearing loss.

CIE health officials were informed of 236 confirmed or probable cases of mumps among inmates at 51 facilities in the last 12 months, compared with no cases detected between January 2016 and February 2018. L & # 39; Last year, it was determined that 423 inmates had influenza and 461 had chickenpox. The three diseases are largely preventable by vaccination.

As of March 7, 2,287 inmates have been quarantined throughout the country, ICE spokesman Brendan Raedy told Reuters.

Ten Democrat members of Congress sent a letter on February 28 to ICE Acting Director Ronald Vitiello, asking for more information on viral diseases at Colorado's immigration detention centers, at the same time. Arizona and Texas. Legislators have not mentioned the Pine Prairie outbreak.

Pablo Paez, a spokesman for the GEO Group, the private prison operator who runs Pine Prairie on contract with the government, said his health professionals were meeting the standards set by the ICE and authorities health. He added that the medical care provided to the detainees allowed the society to "detect, treat and follow appropriate medical protocols to manage an infectious epidemic".

"PRELIMINARY NUMBERS"

The first cases in Pine Prairie were detected in January in four recent migrants transferred from the Tallahatchie County Detention Center in Mississippi, according to internal emails.

Tallahatchie, run by private holding company CoreCivic Inc., has had five confirmed cases of mumps and 18 cases of chicken pox since January, according to company spokeswoman Amanda Gilchrist. She added that no one diagnosed with the diagnosis had been transferred out of the institution while the disease was active.

Tallahatchie is home to hundreds of recently apprehended migrants along the US-Mexico border, ICE said.

On Tuesday, US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told reporters that the demographic changes on the southwestern border, with more immigrants from Central America traveling long distances, were borders and raised fears of health problems.

"We are seeing migrants come up with diseases and medical problems in unprecedented numbers," McAleenan said at a press conference.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccination rates in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras exceed 90%. Inmates of the CIE come from countries around the world, with vaccination coverage more or less wide.

"DELETING HIGH PROFILES"

In Pine Prairie, staff members sometimes disagreed with the manager on how to handle the mumps outbreak, show internal emails. The guardian decided not to quarantine 40 new arrivals from Tallahatchie in February, despite concerns expressed by medical staff, according to an email.

Director Indalecio Ramos, who shared questions about the outbreak with ICE and the GEO group, said that quarantining the transfers would prevent them from attending their hearings, the health center administrator said. the institution in an email dated February 7th.

In an e-mail on February 21, ICE asked Pine Prairie medical staff to release a quarantined inmate for chickenpox and mumps for relocation, calling it a "high-profile referral for deportation". . Director Ramos wrote that the medical staff had wanted to exclude the inmate from the transfer but that "ICE wanted him to travel out of the country anyway … Make sure he leaves."

ICE spokesperson Raedy said travel is limited for people who are known to be infectious, but people with asymptomatic illness can travel.

Since January, Pine Prairie's 1,094-bed center has 18 inmates with confirmed or probable cases of mumps, compared to none in 2018, according to ICE. By mid-February, 288 people were quarantined in Pine Prairie. Mejia said her 40s ended on 25 February.

Detention centers in other states have also seen an increase in epidemics.

There have been 186 cases of mumps in immigration detention centers in Texas since October, the biggest epidemic that has occurred in these centers in recent years, said Lara Anton, health services press officer. from the State Department of Texas.

In Colorado, at the Denver-operated Detroit Detention Center, managed by the GEO group, 357 people have been quarantined following eight confirmed cases and five suspected mumps cases since February, as well as six cases of chicken pox diagnosed since early January. said Dr. Bernadette Albanese of the Tri County Health Department, Colorado.

Civil rights lawyer Danielle Jefferis said court hearings for immigrants quarantined in Aurora were largely canceled.

On February 12, in Pine Prairie, Mejia said she felt confused and hopeless during her video hearing, with no lawyer at her side.

After Mejia's lawyers complained, the lawyers were allowed to visit the quarantined detainees on February 13 – a day too late for Mejia.

While appealing his case, his lawyers say that he could be deported at any time.