I don’t have the words to properly explain how horrifying this is. In April, the advocacy group Freedom For Immigrants published a report about unsanitary conditions at the detention center, where the immigrants were made to clean the facilities with only water, or shampoo. According to their report, there were sick detainees there - possibly with COVID-19, but it’s unclear since they weren’t being tested - and the conditions could easily lead to a situation in which the virus exploded among those there.
The guards are spraying this disinfectant in retaliation for the report. To be clear - HDQ is an industrial-strength disinfectant, which according to the manufacturer is “harmful if inhaled” and “causes severe skin burns and serious eye damage.” The guards are spraying it on everything every 15-30 minutes, according to sources, and immigrants in the center have already experienced severe symptoms including blisters, rashes, bleeding, fainting, breathing difficulties, headaches, stomach pain, and nausea.
And let’s be real - ICE doesn’t give a shit, either about protecting these people or about preventing a COVID outbreak. ICE, according to their own reports, currently has 25,911 people in custody, of which only 2,670 have been tested. 1,392 of those were positive. In simple terms - less than 10% of detainees have been tested. Of those, more than half are positive. We cannot estimate how many sick people ICE is currently holding, or how many more will get sick without any kind of prevention or care.
ICE is killing people through neglect, and when they dared complain - they started gassing them.
Unfortunately, with Trump in the white house, petitions aren’t doing much. What we can do, however, is donate to the advocacy group that is bringing these things to light, allowing them to continue their work and hopefully free more immigrants. Their donation page is here. Please spread this.
jacobvanloon
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