Pressure has been mounting on the Donald Trump administration to release people from immigration detention facilities where at least one detainee has tested positive for COVID-19 and advocates fear tight quarters and overall conditions could cause rapid spread of the virus.
The US holds around 37,000 people in immigration detention. Detainees and advocates say many are vulnerable because of age and pre-existing medical conditions, and because they are often held in open rooms, beds 3-feet apart, and without adequate supplies of masks or other protections.
"It's impossible to stay calm," said Marco Battistotti, an Italian who is among 170 people detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Bristol County jail in Massachusetts.
"People are panicking. People are in fear." The 54-year-old Battistotti was among about 100 detainees at the county jail near Cape Cod who signed a letter released by a local immigration lawyer detailing conditions inside. They asked to be released to await decisions on their immigration cases.
"I don't want to die in an ICE jail," he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "Why can't I fight my case on the outside?"
"The court is clearly reacting to the greater public health crisis that we're in right now and re-evaluating how it's going to dispose of its immigration cases in light of that crisis that we're all experiencing."