People with health conditions that place them at high risk from Covid-19 have been denied access to coronavirus vaccine booster shots while in federal immigration detention, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
The suit was filed on behalf of four people held in immigration detention who have kidney disease, H.I.V. or other conditions, and names ICE and the agency’s acting director, Tae Johnson, as well as the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary, Alejandro N. Mayorkas.
The A.C.L.U. said it hopes to turn the filing into a class-action suit, and that the aim was to ensure that booster shots are accessible to all eligible medically vulnerable detainees.
“What we’re hearing is that people will put in a request for Covid-19 booster shots, that they will be told none are available at this time, that they just have to wait,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the A.C.L.U. National Prison Project. “Sometimes they are just ignored.”
Of the roughly 18,200 people being held in immigration detention, 1,035 had tested positive for Covid and were in isolation or being monitored as of Friday afternoon, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. The agency does not provide data…
