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I know many of you have questions and grave concerns about a complaint filed with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security. The coverage of this complaint raises some red flags for me. Here is what we know. (Read with care; it is disturbing).
A number of organizations sent a letter to the Office of the Inspector General at DHS, the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at DHS, the Acting Director of Atlanta's ICE Field Office and the Warden of the Irwin County (GA) Detention Center.
You can read the letter in full (except for the referenced Declaration) here. https://projectsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OIG-ICDC-Complaint-1.pdf
You can learn more about Project South, which works in Education, Local and Regional Organizing, Legal and Advocacy issues like immigration, and supporting grassroots movements, here. https://projectsouth.org
Here is a statement from the Government Accountability Project, which represents the whistleblower. https://whistleblower.org/press-release/press-release-whistleblowing-nurse-from-detention-center-in-georgia-reports-unsafe-practices-that-promote-the-spread-of-covid-19-in-ice-detention/
The details provided in the letter are well-past alarming. A licensed practical nurse (who is named in the letter -- it seems imprudent to me to throw her name all over Twitter) who is employed at the Irwin County Detention Center describes inhumane, cruel conditions.
This is not an anonymous complaint, though. The nurse is named and has provided a supporting Declaration. I have not been able to locate a copy of the Declaration online.
The detention center is operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private company. Here is one of many news articles about LaSalle's operations. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/investigates/jailedtodeathlouisiana/287-93e49d0c-1d94-4a36-a5b4-87d38be54b58
The conditions described in the letter are horrific and sadly consistent with reporting about private prisons and immigration detention facilities. I urge you to follow @jacobsoboroff for his reporting on immigration facilities. Please follow @eji_org for its work on prisons.
You have likely seen reporting about high rates of hysterectomies in ICE facilities. This is one section of many about neglectful and racist medical care. Pages of this letter describe conditions that get and keep detained people gravely ill.
The letter alleges that Covid-19 is welcomed in the facility. I cannot use strong enough language to tell you that these allegations, if true, indicate a level of racism, corruption, cruelty, and ethical violations that merit sweeping change and accountability.
ICE denies the allegations in the letter and is critical of the way the letter is drafted. Here is the Washington Post's reporting on the letter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/15/ice-covid-irwin-complaint-nurse/
Georgia state Rep. and Minority Leader Robert T. Trammell has written to the Georgia Composite Medical Board and the Georgia Board of Nursing to request immediate suspension of the licenses of the providers named in the letter pending investigation.
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I hope and expect that we will see more reporting on the letter and the conditions in this facility from major, well-established news outlets shortly.
