TINDER BOX

Coronavirus Hits U.S. Immigration Detention Centers as ICE Employees Test Positive

Experts have warned that a coronavirus outbreak at a cramped detention center could be devastating.

Last week, immigration advocates warned of the potentially devastating impact the novel coronavirus outbreak could have inside the U.S. government’s cramped immigration jails. Now their fears are a step closer to being realized after Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed its first two cases of COVID-19 among staff. A member of the medical staff at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey was the first to test positive. ICE said at least one other staff member at a detention center has also tested positive, but didn’t disclose where. The agency said no detainees in ICE custody have confirmed cases of COVID-19. Emilio Dabul, an ICE spokesman, said the New Jersey staffer who tested positive had limited contact with detainees, but did work in the facility’s medical ward, where detainees came in for unrelated treatment. Dabul added that no other detainees or staff are symptomatic at the Elizabeth facility.