ICE also confirms that seven detention workers in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, and another 48 ICE employees not assigned to detention facilities have the coronavirus. Jeff Migliozzi of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) tells Teen Vogue that he worries the number of infected is much higher than they're reporting.

"They typically report positive cases weeks after detained people report to us," Migliozzi said. "On top of that, they have not told us how many people they have tested."

Teen Vogue reached out to ICE about current figures on COVID-19 cases, what they’re doing to protect undocumented immigrants inside detention centers, and how they are managing cases of detainees that have already been released.

"This is what public health experts have assured us would happen: People in detention centers are sitting ducks for the spread of this virus," Andrea Flores, deputy director of policy, equality division, at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in a statement. "The same experts have also predicted that once outbreaks in detention centers begin, they will spread rapidly.”

Because of that, Flores said the ACLU is joining the call to free detainees, writing, “The suffering and death that will occur are unnecessary and preventable. ICE must take immediate and drastic steps to reduce the number of people in detention. If it doesn't, it will be to blame for a humanitarian crisis."

Since March 16, the ACLU and other immigrant advocates have filed lawsuits against ICE seeking the release of people who are in civil detention and are at high risk for severe illness or death in the event of COVID-19 infection. The ACLU is determining which detainees to pursue release for based on age and underlying medical conditions that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has indicated will increase the risk of severe illness in the event of COVID-19 infection. So far, the ACLU tells Teen Vogue ICE has released more than 29 of its clients from detention.

"(S)hould we fail to afford relief to Petitioners, we will be a party to an unconscionable and possibly barbaric result," federal judge John E. Jones III wrote in his opinion on March 31 after he ordered the release of elderly detainees and others with medical conditions. "Our Constitution and laws apply equally to the most vulnerable among us, particularly when matters of public health are at issue. This is true, even for those who have lost a measure of their freedom. If we are to remain the civilized society we hold ourselves out to be, it would be heartless and inhumane not to recognize Petitioners' plight."

One concerning factor, however, is whether or not released detainees will have to return to detention once medical officials contain the coronavirus. Hanna Johnson of the ACLU tells Teen Vogue that it depends on what the court orders.

"For example, in [a] Michigan case, the court ordered [a detainee be] released 'until the State of Emergency in Michigan (related to COVID-19) is lifted or until further Order of this Court stating otherwise,’” Johnson said. "If the court doesn't put conditions on the release order, I would say the person remains released until the government goes back to court to get the order vacated. There's a decent chance they'll do this once the crisis is over, and we'll have to decide if we want to challenge them in court again. It's also possible they won't all try to re-detain people — we don't know."

The SPLC told Teen Vogue that ICE is expected to respond by Thursday to a new emergency filing by the SPLC and the ACLU seeking the immediate release of asylum seekers detained by New Orleans ICE operations in Louisiana, where COVID-19 cases continue to accelerate in what some have already described as an epicenter of immigration detention. Louisiana is now listed as one of the top five states with the most coronavirus cases — nearly 15,000 — behind California. Various organizations and advocates are joining the national virtual #FreeThemAll campaign to call for the release of everyone held in ICE detention.

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Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: 5 Reasons Why Activists Are Calling for the Abolition of ICE