Citing coronavirus threat, judge extends cap on detainees at immigration centers

Pointing to the “pressing problem” of the coronavirus threat in detention centers, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke on Friday extended her 14-day order requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep the number of detainees at a lower level to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19.

Cooke’s order requiring ICE to keep the population at South Florida detention facilities at 75 percent capacity will remain in effect until May 30.

Citing the constitutional standard of “cruel and unusual punishment,” the judge had issued her initial temporary restraining order on ICE at the end of April after detainees claimed the region’s three detention facilities were so crowded that they did not allow for adequate social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

This week, ICE told the judge that it met Cooke’s population guidelines by transferring detainees from Krome in Miami-Dade, BTC in Pompano Beach and Glades in Moore Haven to other detention centers in other states, deporting some and releasing others on parole with GPS monitoring devices. The judge’s order did not prescribe how ICE should lower the population of detainees, who range from foreigners who entered the country illegally to others who completed prison terms for committing crimes.

At the same time, Cooke scheduled a hearing for May 27 to consider a proposed class-action lawsuit by 1,200 detainees seeking release from the three detention centers amid the coronavirus pandemic. A lawyer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office who is representing ICE said the agency wants to deal with the group one at a time, not as a class.

One of the attorneys representing the detainees disagreed with that approach, saying “release is not the same as a transfer” because they are still in ICE custody and run the risk of contracting the dangerous virus that causes COVID-19.

This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 7:48 PM.