Hundreds of undocumented immigrants are crammed into New Jersey jails awaiting deportation hearings as the virus spreads among them, and among the guards. We believe ICE should release all those who present no threat to public safety. But the Trump administration has refused to do so.

For now, the Star-Ledger editorial board will be sharing their stories, first-hand accounts from the detainees. We don’t know their full histories, and so can’t say whether these individuals should be released. But we feel the public has a right to hear their accounts, given that an outbreak behind bars will inevitably spill outside that perimeter.

Here’s the first installment, from Terry McInerney, age 32, originally from Ireland, in his own words from the ICE detention center at Essex County jail in Newark. An edited transcript appears below.

It’s gone crazy in here. Two weeks back, everybody told them that they were sick, and they did nothing about it. And now everybody’s getting more sick and it’s spreading like wildfire across the whole jail.

I believe it all started here with dorm 7. One person said he was sick, and a few days after, there was no sign of him. And everybody after that was getting sick.

When I first moved in here, about two weeks ago, there were 47 inmates in my dorm. Now it’s down to 22 people. Rumor has it, a few have been released via parole. But starting about a week ago, people were being taken out and quarantined in the cells.

Groups of people started going out of our dorm, and nobody started coming back. And that’s when we put 2 and 2 together.

The facility administrator, as she called herself, came in and told us a bunch of lies: That we’re in the safest place in the world, and if we washed our hands, we wouldn’t get corona. But in the week that just passed, I had all the symptoms.

Coughing, lack of energy. I could barely talk. I was so fatigued. My head was swollen, I felt like I ran into the wall. I had a fever for about six days. I couldn’t call my fiancé or my lawyer for two days, that’s how bad my voice was.

I told the people here I was sick. All they said to us was, keep making a request on the tablet, and you’ll see the doctor. I get medication, I’m bipolar, so every time the nurse came around, I’d tell her. And she kept saying, make a request on the tablet.

We have a waiting list of 15 days, and that’s just to see the doctor. Nobody took me to medical. On the 7th day, when I was feeling much better, they stuck a thermometer in my mouth and that was it. And they just did that to shut me up.

There were six people taken out of dorm 7 on Tuesday. Some were so sick they can’t even stand up. Only one came back. For the rest, their belongings were put into garbage bags and taken out with gloves and masks. They get packed up and that’s it, we don’t see them anymore.

I work on the cleaning detail, so I get to see firsthand everything that goes on. Yesterday I saw three garbage bags outside the door of dorm 5. It means those people have already been quarantined and they’re being removed from the dorms.

There used to be a lot of people roaming around. Now it’s really scarce with officers, I don’t know if they’re refusing to come in or if they’re sick. The ones that are here wear masks. We had masks last week, when we were cleaning one of cubicles and that’s it. They didn’t give us any more.

We were told they’re only given out to the officers. With the soap, it’s like you’re pulling teeth. You don’t know whether you’re going to get it or not. It would be easier to find crack in here, to be honest, than to buy a bar of soap.

We started with 16 detainees on the cleaning detail, and now it’s just 8 or 9. They’re dropping like flies. The majority is sick and one or two quit. Just this morning, we had a guy on detail who did not feel well. I told the officer and she made it her business to get him sent to medical. He’s wearing a mask now and he’s still in the dorm. I’m afraid to go anywhere near him.

There’s a few other guys in my dorm wearing masks they made themselves. One used a t-shirt, another a towel. One ripped off the sleeve from a hoodie and sewed on an elastic band from his underwear. One of them has a cough and is showing all the signs – the one wearing the towel.

They’re trying to put a face over what’s happening at the jail, but the face is falling apart.

One of my friends here, Mario Rodriguez, has an 8-year-old girl on the outside. He’s in here like me, for basically nothing. We’re not criminals. I overstayed a visa, that was it. All of dorm 7 are low security so we can work for the jail and be trusted.

I’m afraid that I may not see or speak to my family again. I’m afraid I will not walk out of here to marry my fiancé. I’m beyond sick half the time. I don’t eat my food, I don’t even sleep. I don’t know what will happen next. It’s not “if” we’re going to get hit completely by the virus, it’s “when.” It’s only a matter of time when the whole jail is going to be sick.

That’s when I fear that I may not walk out of here alive. I’ll fall sick again, and I’m afraid I won’t make it this time.

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