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Arizona ICE Jail Violated Prisoners’ Rights and Failed to Prevent COVID-19 Outbreak

HeadlineApr 02, 2021

In Arizona, a new investigation has revealed staff at the privately run immigration jail La Palma Correctional Center violated multiple pandemic protocols, verbally assaulted prisoners, and attacked prisoners with pepper spray during a peaceful protest. The report by the Homeland Security Department’s Office of the Inspector General says staff at La Palma failed to enforce mask and social distancing protocols, contributing to a massive spread of COVID-19 cases. The report also found staff often refused to provide medical attention to prisoners, and in many cases didn’t refill their prescriptions, including for a cancer patient who ran out of leukemia medication. 

In California, Border Patrol agents deported a Honduran asylum seeker to Mexico after she went into labor while in custody. The woman had recently crossed into the U.S. with her partner. She was eventually taken to a hospital south of Tijuana, where she gave birth.

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