Five undocumented migrants, facing deportation have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Washington, D.C....
Five undocumented migrants, facing deportation have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Washington, D.C., court, alleging they were denied COVID-19 booster shots at the detention centers where they are being held.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of the District of Columbia on Monday, requests that the at-risk plaintiffs be given booster shots to protect them from contracting the coronavirus.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is also named as a defendant.
ICE informed DailyMail.com on Friday that it 'does not comment on pending litigation or cases connected to ongoing litigation.'
The plaintiffs were identified as Aamir Shaikh, 49; Marvin Hernández Villalobo, 29; Liliana Cardenas Solis; 34; and James Mayen Mayen; 41.
The name of a fifth person, who is 24, is redacted from the court document.
Mayen Mayen and the unnamed plaintiff have both tested positive in the last week.
Each of the plaintiffs suffers from medical conditions that consist of diabetes, hypertension and tuberculosis. The lawsuit argues that the possibility of being infected with the virus could expose to them all to severe illnesses and death.
The ACLU's National Prison Project senior staff attorney EuniceCho confirmed to DailyMail.com on Friday that at least one of the plaintiffs had since received their booster shot.
Five undocumented migrants being held by ICE on deportation orders had a lawsuit filed on their behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday in Washington, D.C. The allege that ICE has denied them the chance to get COVID-19 booster shot. One of the plaintiffs, Aamir Shaikh, is being held at the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama
The Stewart Detention Center currently has 141 detainees awaiting deportation who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Four inmates have died from the virus at the facility since the start of the pandemic
One of the five plaintiffs who in named in the lawsuit is a 24-year-old detainee being held at the Golden State Annex Detention Center in McFarland, California. He tested positive for COVID-19 on January 26 after a detainee in his unit got a positive test
The ACLU said that ICE records show COVID-19 infections have rocketed by more than 940 percent throughout its detention facilities since January 3.
Only 671 of the nearly 22,000 inmates who are being held by ICE have received their booster shots.
Lawyers for the five immigrants called on ICE to follow the White House's stance that COVID-19 vaccine booster shots 'are a necessary measure to protect people's health.'
At least 3,140 individuals in custody have tested positive for the virus, according to ICE’s website updated Thursday.
The ACLU fears a massive outbreak across ICE's detention facilities with more that 99 percent of the COVID-19 cases that have been reported as of January 22 have been caused by the Omicron strain.
'As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads rapidly in ICE detention centers, immigrants detained in these facilities are increasingly afraid for their health and lives,' Cho said in a statement. 'ICE is well aware that people with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable to severe illness and death, and booster shots are a critically important protection for them against the virus. Failing to provide booster shots is not only irresponsible and cruel, it's also a violation of their constitutional rights.'
Shaikh, who is detained at the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama, received two doses of Moderna around February 2021 and has made several attempts to get the booster.
The lawsuit claims the nursing staff has ignored his repeated requests and that he was told 'he would not receive a booster shot until the state of Alabama 'approved them' at an unspecified date in the future.'
He is being held with detainees who have tested positive for the virus and who are still sick.
The Aurora Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, has 75 active coronavirus cases
Clinton County Correctional Facility has five inmates awaiting deportation who have are being treated for COVID-19
Hernández Villalobo, who has been held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, dating back to summer 2020, has been fully vaccinated since March or April 2021.
He suffers from obesity and schizophrenia, and has been unable to receive a booster shot.
'On at least two occasions in January 2022, he requested a booster shot from Stewart officials,' the lawsuit indicates. 'The first official, a unit manager, told Mr. Hernández Villalobo that he did not have time to speak with him; the second official, a person in the medical unit, relayed that booster shots were not available.'
Cadenas Solis, who has been diagnosed with anemia and depression, received her first two vaccine doses between February and May 2021 at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, where she has been held since June 9, 2021.
She requested a booster shot via a written medical request in December 2021 and was placed on a waiting list, but has not received a response.
The 24-year-old asthmatic plaintiff who is being held at the Golden State Annex Detention Center in McFarland, California, tested positive for COVID-19 on January 26 after a detainee in his unit got a positive test.
The plaintiff, who is fully vaccinated, has filed petitions for his booster shot on three occasions and was placed on a waiting list.
Mayen Mayen, who is awaiting his deportation order at the Clinton County Correctional Facility in McElhattan, Pennsylvania, has been diagnosed with hepatitis B and tuberculosis. He has tested positive for COVID-19 on three occasions, the most recent coming January 24.
He fell ill after receiving the Johnson & Johnson on or about May 10, 2021, at the York County Prison in York, Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit indicates that Mayen Mayen has been advised not to take the Johnson & Johnson booster shooter. He has requested to receive the Pfizer or Moderna booster, but has not received the shot.
ICE data shows that Stewart Detention Center has 141 detainees who are in isolation with COVID-19. Of the five facilities where the plaintiffs are being held, it's the only one to report coronavirus deaths, with four inmates dying from the virus since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
The Aurora Contract Detention Facility has 76 infected detainees and Golden State Annex Facility is next with 21 inmates being treated for COVID-19. Another five detainees are being treated for the virus while two others are also infected at the Clinton County Correctional Facility.
Of the five defendants, Mayen Mayen was the only one who received information about the booster shot from detention facilities' staff.
'Booster shots are readily available everywhere in the country,' said Arthur B. Spitzer, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia. 'ICE's failure to provide them to detainees reflects a truly callous disregard for the health and safety of the people in its care.'
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