As COVID-19 cases continue to grow rapidly around the United States, people at Otay Mesa Detention Center, particularly those at high risk, are asking to be released to avoid what feels like an otherwise unavoidable fate of infection.

Like many in prisons and jails across the country, detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, including those held at Say Diego’s Otay Mesa facility, say that conditions inside won’t allow them to practice the social distancing or personal hygiene recommendations from public health experts. They say if the coronavirus comes into a facility through one of the guards or other staff, it will quickly spread to the most of people held inside.

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There are four ICE detainees, all at facilities in New Jersey, who have tested positive for the virus so far, according to ICE’s website. Five people who work in ICE detention centers in Colorado, New Jersey and Texas, have also tested positive.


Unlike prisons and jails in the criminal justice system, immigration detention cannot legally be used as punishment because immigration is considered a civil matter, not a criminal one. That means that ICE is only allowed to hold someone in custody if that person is found to be a flight risk or dangerous to society.

Asylum seekers and other immigrants with underlying conditions that increase risk of severe symptoms are particularly concerned about staying inside Otay Mesa Detention Center during the pandemic.

An HIV-positive asylum seeker said he is worried that if the coronavirus is brought inside the facility, his body will not have the adequate defenses to fight it.

Alex, a 28-year-old man from El Salvador, who preferred not to be fully identified because of his ongoing asylum case, said he was sexually assaulted by gang members back home, which left him with HIV.


He said he has already struggled with what he called insufficient medical care at the detention facility. He’s supposed to take medication for his condition at the same time every day, but he receives it sometimes as early as 8 a.m. and other times as late as 9 p.m., he said.

He also said he has faced discrimination from staff because he is gay. He worries that if he becomes sick with COVID-19, nothing will be done to help him.

“They can do what they want with one inside,” Alex said in Spanish during a phone interview. “It’s a lie that they say there is protection here.”

ICE directed the Union-Tribune to its website when asked about Otay Mesa Detention Center detainees’ concerns.


“Consistent with federal partners, ICE is taking important steps to further safeguard those in our care,” the website reads. “As a precautionary measure, ICE has temporarily suspended social visitation in all detention facilities.”

According to the site, the agency has a protocol for screening for cases.

“ICE continues to incorporate (the Centers for Disease Control and Protection) COVID-19 guidance, which is built upon the already established infectious disease monitoring and management protocols currently in use by the agency,” the website says.

Otay Mesa Detention Resistance, a migrant rights group, is planning a demonstration on Tuesday to pressure state and federal officials to release detainees before the virus can get inside. The group has been in contact with numerous detainees who are afraid of what the pandemic might mean for them.


Issis, a 35-year-old woman from Honduras with two young children who are U.S. citizens, said she’s especially worried about the coronavirus coming to Otay Mesa Detention Center because of a medical condition that puts her at high risk. Issis, who asked to be identified by her first name only, has a history of tuberculosis that left her lungs damaged.

“They say we’re safe supposedly, but I don’t see how,” Issis said in Spanish during a phone interview.

Issis came to the United States as a child and was a victim of human trafficking, she said. Because of the way the human trafficking incident played out, immigration officials mailed her court notice to the wrong address, and she never received it, she said. When she didn’t show up to court, she was ordered to be deported.

Her attorney is trying to reopen her earlier case before the federal government deports her.


Issis said she hasn’t seen the guards at the facility washing their hands regularly.

She also said detainees are not given gloves to use while cleaning, and that they have to use the same towels all day to clean the surfaces in their housing unit.

Her attorney Shannon Englert has a client with leukemia being held at Otay Mesa. Englert is requesting that both clients be released due to their conditions and the ongoing pandemic.

Leontiy Kapakly, 29, has tuberculosis as well and is worried about what will happen to him if he remains in custody during the pandemic.


Kapakly is a green card holder who came to the United States from Ukraine as a refugee when he was a child. He grew up in Sacramento and ended up at the Otay Mesa facility after serving a prison sentence for assault with a deadly weapon. In the incident that led to his guilty plea, firefighters woke him up while he was in his car. He tried to drive away, he said, pulling two of the firefighters along by his car and injuring them.

He said Otay Mesa’s medical care is not nearly as good as that of the state prison where he was held previously.

“We are calling for the immediate freedom of all people inside,” said Brendan Cassidy, a member of Otay Mesa Detention Resistance. “No one deserves to die inside a detention center from a preventable disease.”

Participants in Tuesday’s demonstration will remain in their cars and practice recommended social distancing and public health measures, Cassidy said. He did not yet have a clear sense how many people — and vehicles — would participate.