The American Civil Liberties Union is asking a federal court to release nine people from an Immigration and Custom Enforcement detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, because the detainees are at risk during the coronavirus outbreak.
Court papers were filed on Monday for the nine immigrants, who are part of a larger number of detainees housed at the ICE detention facility in Tacoma, according to Roll Call.
And The Hill noted the detention facility is located outside of Seattle, one of the nation’s hotspots for cases and deaths in the U.S. due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The nine have pre-existing conditions — such as lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, kidney disease, autoimmune disorders, asthma and hypertension, Roll Call said.
In the court papers, the ACLU cited arguments from medical experts saying the detainees should be released because of their age and high likelihood of contracting the virus in a “congregate environment,” Roll Call reported.
“In normal circumstances, ICE has proven time and again that it is unable to protect the health and safety of detained people,” said Eunice Cho, an ACLU staff attorney. “These are not normal circumstances, and the heightened risk of serious harm to people in detention from COVID-19 is clear.”
A spokesperson for ICE said the agency is taking steps to safeguard “those in our care.”
“As a precautionary measure, we are temporarily suspending social visitation in all detention facilities,” the spokesperson said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.