Advocates warn of more immigrant deaths without ICE action

HOUSTON (AP) — More people will die of the coronavirus in U.S. immigration custody unless the Trump administration rapidly improves conditions and releases more detainees, lawyers and advocates warned Thursday, following the first confirmed virus-related death of a detainee.

A complaint sent to the Department of Homeland Security includes the stories of 17 people who allege they have been denied release despite in some cases having medical conditions putting them at higher risk of infection. They include a man in remission from a form of cancer known as follicular lymphoma and a woman with pre-diabetes.

Carlos Ernesto Escobar, a 57-year-old man from El Salvador, died Wednesday at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, which was holding 132 of the 705 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

ICE says it has tested 1,460 detainees and has just under 30,000 people in custody.

According to a representative for his family, Escobar was diabetic and was placed on a ventilator after contracting the virus in detention.

ICE says it has released more than 900 people considered to be at risk. In a statement, the agency said it has staggered meal and recreation times to increase social distancing and isolated people exposed to someone who was infected as well as those newly detained.

A coalition of groups including the American Immigration Council and American Immigration Lawyers Association filed Thursday’s complaint, which underscores persistent allegations that detainees are being denied protective gear, cleaning supplies, or adequate space to observe social distancing.

Katie Shepherd, a lawyer at the American Immigration Council, said Escobar’s death was avoidable and blamed...