May 8, 2020

Greg MD

Engl. 111 C4B

 

Dear Professor Price,

The primary purpose of writing the final draft is to convey the real issues in the detention centers concerning the pandemic. Because of this, the pandemic has shed light on these issues, such as; the communicable spread of diseases, lack of social distancing, overcrowding, lack of personal protection equipment (PPE), to name a few concerns within the detention centers. To revise the target audience was to look closer at particular keywords; examples were PPE, detention centers, and immigration that would relate to a specific audience. The intended audience would be the U.S. Food Drug and Administration (FDA) that approves equipment and could implement a mass production at a national level.

The challenges that I experienced during the writing process were trying to keep track of many papers with instructions. Many times it was a bit overwhelming while trying to set up a system that would work throughout the semester but continuing the writing projects. I was to prepare and essay not and outline.  The last rough draft, there were issues with the computer and flash drive at the end I lost all of that work.  To solve those issues, going forward, I decided to make backup copies and print out a hard copy once completed.  The other issues Professor Price mentioned are that my thesis, my title and my audience needed some adjustments.  I kept my thesis but I added a little more information.  I made a change to my title which I think ties it to my thesis and the body of my essay. I made a change to my audiences hoping to make it clearer. I have to give a big thank you to Professor Wright as I have learned a great deal from her, and I am still learning every day. Using the tutoring on campus has been a big help in recognizing areas to focus on in my writing skills and to be on the alert to identify my errors.  Using the online tutoring service to get feedback on my writing projects has help me to identify areas that were overlooked, one of the areas was the references in citation source.  I can see a big difference in my writing from the beginning of this course English 111 and now a big improvement.

From my peers’ response talking about my final argument draft, my working thesis title is clear well organized with a good flow.  Having strong evidence to support my claim and my argument is perfect.  One of the peers mentioned that I didn’t have opposing views to rectify this, concerning the detention centers I used a few report that some facilities were clean and others had some major issues.  In one of the peers’ responses, it was a little unclear to their point.

The journey in writing is a valuable tool to have, as I have learned a great deal on this project.  As we finalize our final argument paper, learning the process of research, establishing credibility, looking at the sources, validating the author or publishers, and their background to keep our fallacies out and to base everything on evidence is what will guide the project.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and my final argument paper.

Sincerely,

Greg MD

 

 

 

 

 

The Lack of PPE in the Detention Centers for Immigrants

 

 

Abstract

The controversy and issues are the lack of a voice or concern for immigrants. The detention center living conditions for immigrant men, women, children, and women with an unborn child pose a considerable risk and include the employees.  When there are outbreaks of infectious diseases, these affect everyone within the facility.  Health and safety are critical to maintaining a policy and standard for everyone to follow and including maintenance of the building. The Detention Centers with no PPE are a breeding ground for an epidemic.  There will be abbreviations or acronyms throughout the final argument, such as Center for Disease Control (CDC), Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), Custom Border Protection (CBP), World Health Organization (WHO), and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Keywords: CDC, PPE, GPMB, CBP, WHO, FDA, ICE, virus, outbreak,

 

 

 

The Lack of PPE in the Detention Centers for Immigrants

Introduction

The current pandemic has brought many changes to the way of life.  The Coronavirus outbreak has caused havoc worldwide, leaving uncertainty because of this disease. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and scientists, the concerns would be the children and pregnant women who are at a higher risk, including the ones with medical conditions and the elderly. The reality in this situation is that many immigrants who are in detention centers have no way to leave or to limit social distancing from others—the condition in the facilities, the atmosphere, and the morale of the agents or immigrants are challenging.

The U.S. has 211 detention facilities that operate under Custom Border Protection (CBP) processing centers, including detention and privatization centers (Detention Facility Locator, 2020).  On January 25, 2017, an executive order was signed by Trump, and he wanted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expedite its pace by arresting 41,000 people within the next 100 days—the overall total capacity to hold in the detention centers is an average somewhat more than 38,000.  That following year, 2018, in a budget proposed plan, Trump wanted to increase its capacity to hold about 48,000 people, which would increase to 10,000 more immigrants and staff.

Some of these facilities are in worse condition than others. There was a closer in-depth look at detention centers in South Texas located in Dilley, Texas: The Family Residential Center in this video is showing how clean and organized it is, including many other services like medical that provides an on-staff nurse, mental health provider, a physician, a dental service along with a pharmacy and legal counsel. “The dedicated employees who work at Dilley perform their duties every day with professionalism, dignity, and compassion” (Affairs, 2019). The detention center in Dilley, TX holds a max of 3,000 women and children only. The Berks Detention Center in Leesport, PA only houses 84 families. The unannounced inspection report on three different facilities at Karnes (TX.), Berks (PA.), and Dilley (TX.) covers three areas: background, key observations, and language services that include pictures of a mixture of areas, according to (OIG-17-65, 2017).  These detention centers have good conditions, but many others do not provide healthy living conditions.

The Freedom for Immigrants report (Detention by the numbers, 2020)“has different charts to represent the number of immigrants in detention centers by facility operators, facility type, detained by age group, average length in a detention center, and the type of abused that is reported and document.”  After reviewing the chart appendix a, with the facts, the number one issue for abuse was medical neglect and sexual assault, but they were the very last on the list. The largest group of detained immigrants by age is 26 to 35, and the length of stay in the detention center was two to four years.

The target audience is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who can address these concerns by requesting PPE and other equipment to provide these facilities by protecting immigrants and the staff.  In the detention centers, it is critical to have supplies on hand at all times.  To have PPE as a part of a standard policy is vital within the detention centers, everyone can benefit.  Making sure there is an adequate amount of inventory for health care workers, first responders, and the general population falls under the guideline of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  The detention centers with no personal protective equipment (PPE) are a breeding ground for an epidemic, so the FDA should provide PPE for all inhabitants and staff.

 

 

Discussion

Living Conditions

The overcrowded living conditions where the immigrants are being held are a recipe for contagion to spread. The U.S. has many detention centers, which hold immigrants that are undocumented or seeking asylum. A number of detention centers within the U.S. exceed maximum capacity limits.  In the U.S., there are 211 detention centers. In addition, the number of detainees’ men, women, and children has increased. “Immigration authorities apprehended a record-setting 76,020 unaccompanied minors at or near the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2019 fiscal year, an increase of 52 percent over 2018.” (Amelia Cheatham, 2020).  The statistics of a breakdown demographic for single adults total for the year 301,806, family units total for the year 473,682, accompanied minor children total for the 76,020 and the total with all three combine 851,508, and unaccompanied alien children total for the year 4,614 was the inadmissible fiscal year 2019 (Southwest Border Migration FY 2019, 2019).  Since Trump has taken office the increase of detainees has been on the rise. In appendix b, the evidence shown in the chart supports the facts of the number of immigrants that were apprehension and inadmissible in the physical year 2019.  The apprehension in 2019 is about two times the amount over 2018 the previous year, a huge influx of immigrants.

ICE Reports

 ICE Inspection reports from Homeland Security show detainees live in poor unbearable conditions (Colleen Long, 2019).  The reports from the inspector general had an unannounced visit to several faculties “detainee bathrooms that were in poor condition, including mold and peeling paint on walls, floors, and showers, and unusable toilets” (Kelly,John V., 2019). One major concern would be the mold that can cause respiratory illnesses and a toxin that can produce airborne spores is deadly.  There is no wonder why a spread of a communicable outbreak affects the detainees and workers.  Within in the last year, three children died from the Influenza infection while in ICE custody confirmed by the laboratory testing (Sunderji, Mena, Winickoff, Melinek, & Sharfstein, 2020).  With the Coronavirus being so new, there is not much history yet, but the evidence will establish that other diseases in the past have caused outbreaks within the detention centers.

Outbreak of Virus

 An outbreak of viruses can spread among a group within a compound of a detention facility rapidly.  “How Does the Coronavirus Spread” (Edwards, 2020)?  The transmission of the viruses comes in this order: air, water, surface, kitchen, and bathrooms.  This is what medical professionals know so far. The evidence talks about how the Coronavirus spreads and how critical it is to have clean habits. This virus is extremely different and more dangerous than other viruses. “A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new Coronavirus of probable bat origin” (Peng, et al., 2020).  In addition to outbreaks of other diseases, like Mumps, Influenza A and B, HIV/AIDS, adding Coronavirus now is a major concern. In 2018/2019, there was an outbreak of mumps in one of the detention centers. “Starting in September 2018, an unusually high number of mumps cases were reported in US adult detention facilities. Detention facilities usually involve close contact among detainees, facilitating transmission of mumps” (Leung, 2019).  Just as mumps can spread in a contain facility with close contact, so can the Coronavirus and many other viruses that have no vaccination.

Health and Safety

The immigrants’ human rights could be violated or ignored in detention centers which could endanger the health and safety of all inhabitants in the current pandemic.  Medical professionals have concerns with an outbreak in the facilities and say they should be recognized as a public health risk and taken seriously. To “affirms the patient-physician relationship as a safeguard for protecting undocumented immigrants’ privacy when seeking health care” (Cleek, 2018).  The detention centers can pose a health risk and create a breeding ground for Coronavirus to take over. Maintaining social distancing is impossible because of overcrowding within the detention centers.  Because of the current pandemic, it is necessary for people to keep six feet apart (Benenson, 2020) from USA Today report recommend, “To slow pandemic, Trump should release nonviolent immigrants from detention centers.”  This would help to relieve an overcrowded population to minimize the risk and to have distance between detainees. The immigrants who are infected with Coronavirus are isolated from general population, according to CDC “Operational Preparedness” (Center of Disease Control , 2020). The CDC had knowledge a year ago to be ready about COVID-19 and the agency has established a policy for readiness and guidelines for this outbreak.  Maybe ICE could think about releasing the immigrants who has no criminal history or violence to create more of social distancing. ”Coronavirus is already at the doors of immigration detention centers across the country, where social distancing is not feasible” (Benenson, 2020).  This change could help to lower the population in the detention facilities and to reduce the chances of spreading the disease.

PPE

The immigrants not having personal protection equipment (PPE) and other protection with the current epidemic endanger their health and safety and all inhabitants around them.  An outcry comes from immigrants for protection against the virus.  Nomaan Merchant from the PBS News Hour, a credible news source, reports, “The asylum-seeker from El Salvador and others had resorted to tearing their T-shirts into face coverings after a woman in their unit tested positive for COVID-19” (Merchant, N., 2020)  The evidence is showing that people in detention are resorting to drastic means to protect themselves, because the immigrants do not have access to PPE.  They are destroying their own clothes to create their own protective equipment to save their lives. People are saying they shouldn’t be here in the first place because they are illegal but the virus has no boundaries regardless of your citizenship.

In the detention center located in Elizabeth, New Jersey, one of their staff members working has shown symptoms displaying of the Coronavirus.  The detention facilities that hold immigrants are faced with the danger of the virus infiltrating, which is a significant concern to the lawyers and ICE officials are working with the immigration courts on the possibility of exposure. “Human Rights Advocates with Medical and Legal Expertise Call on Governors, State Health Officials to Direct Reduction, Release of Immigration Detainees to Prevent Coronavirus Spread” (Short, 2020).  As of April 26, 2020 (AILA Doc. No. 20031658 , 2020), “ICE confirmed that 297 detainees, 35 detention facility personnel, and 88 ICE employees, have tested positive for COVID-19.” The roles and responsibility of the U.S. Food, Drug, and Administration (FDA) is to ensure the health and safety of the general public, workers approved drugs, personal protection equipment (PPE), and our food supply (FDA, 2018), including but not limited to, inventory for PPE and other items pertaining to a national emergency.

The World at Risk annual report 2019 has established Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) for leaders as a guideline; there are “Seven urgent actions to prepare the world for health emergencies.” The “annual report” has called for leaders around the world in 2019 to take action, and suggested by medical doctors, scientists and the World Health Organization (WHO) there would be a possible outbreak, but when un-ignored according to (Seven Urgent Actions to Prepare the World, 2019).  If the FDA and ICE could have provided PPE much earlier to immigrants in the detention centers maybe this could have minimize the spread of the virus.

Counter Argument and Rebuttals

My argument: is to minimize the spread of disease by providing personal protection equipment (PPE) to immigrants and staff.  According to Aila (ICE Issues Guidance on COVID-19, 2020) , ICE added language to its COVID-19 guidance stating that “ICE/ERO now requires all legal visitors, CODELs, and STAFFDELs to provide and wear personal protective equipment (PPE) (disposable vinyl gloves, N-95 or surgical masks, and eye protection) while visiting any detention facility.” Researching for hand sanitizers for personal uses, looking at Amazon, there is about a three month or a longer wait in order to receive the product.

Their counter-argument: ICE is saying to wear PPE but you have to provide your own and they are requiring everyone to comply.  People are saying you shouldn’t be here in the first place because you are illegal.

My rebuttal: There are different branches of government. The FDA is one part of a branch that is responsible for PPE and equipment that is vital to our health and human services. Inventory control would be ideal to increase stock levels after watching China and Italy in December or January experiencing the outbreak.  The Coronavirus will not discriminate based on color, race, and sexual orientation.  A virus will not stop at the U.S. border or divide lines because you’re not a U.S. citizen nor will it prevent you from being infected.  The Detention Centers with no PPE are a breeding ground for an epidemic, so the FDA should approve PPE for all inhabitants and staff.

Concluding

Our country is facing one of the worse pandemics in history.  Going back, looking, and reviewing sites, evidence, and many other sources seems to have plenty of blame to share, but that is not the point. The real question we can ask ourselves: can we do better to improve our future by learning from our past errors of this current pandemic sometimes revisiting our roles and responsibilities, job descriptions, giving us clarity in our positions? In a time of crisis, putting aside party lines probably would be beneficial so not to separate or divide our country.  Now, we have some data with facts and figures to generate meaningful information to put together backup plans strategically from operations, medical, and equipment, and more are critical components to weather situations such as this. From all the evidence and research it is clear that there is a breakdown within our leadership.  A warning from World Health Organizational that put together a catalog name A World at Risk (GPMB) in September 2019 about the Coronavirus outbreak, which was neglected from our current administration to not reacting accordingly.  By watching daily briefing from the U.S. White House, just shows how divided the current administration is, but this is not what the American people need at this time.  Putting aside party lines will be beneficial to achieve our common goal to fight the current pandemic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Affairs, A. P. (Director). (2019, Febuary 25). Detention Managment- Family Residential Center [Motion Picture].

AILA Doc. No. 16050900. (2020, March 23). Retrieved from Deaths at Adult Detention Centers: https://www.aila.org/infonet/deaths-at-adult-detention-centers

AILA Doc. No. 20031658 . (2020, March 21). Retrieved from ICE Issues Guidance on COVID-19: https://www.aila.org/infonet/ice-issues-guidance-on-covid-19

Amelia Cheatham. (2020, Febuary 10). Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-detention-child-migrants

Benenson, L. H. (2020, April 15). To slow pandemic, Trump should release nonviolent immigrants from detention centers. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/15/coronavirus-pandemic-trump-should-release-migrants-detention-column/2987925001/

Brimmer, E. (Director). (2020). NAFSA Special COVID-19 Update [Motion Picture].

Center of Disease Control . (2020, March 23). Interim Guidance on Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Correctional and Detention Facilities. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/correction-detention/guidance-correctional-detention.html

Cleek, H. (2018). Sanctuary Clinics: Using the patient-physican relationship to discuss immigration policy as a public health concern. Vol.53 Issue 5, p979-1004. 26p.

Colleen Long. (2019, June 6). AP News. Retrieved from Agency watchdog slam conditions at ICE detention facilities: https://apnews.com/f6908c78bde6433ea371a3253e51c4e4

Colleen Long. (2019, June 6). PBS News Hour. Retrieved from Nation: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/homeland-securtiy-watchdog-slam-conditions-at-ice-detention-facilities

Detention by the numbers. (2020, April 26). Retrieved from Freedom For Immigrants: https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/detention-statistics

Detention Facility Locator. (2020, April 26). Retrieved from Ice.gov: https://www.ice.gov/detention-facilities

Edwards, E. (2020, Januray 24). How does coronavirus spread? Retrieved from NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/how-does-new-coronavirus-spread-n1121856

FDA. (2018, March 28). Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/what-we-do: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/what-we-do

Interim Guidance on Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Correctional and Detention Facilities. (2020, March 23). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/correction-detention/guidance-correctional-detention.html

Kelly,John V. (2019, June 3). https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-47-Jun19.pdf. Retrieved from Office of Inspector General: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-47-Jun19.pdf

Knopf, A. (2017). Immigration policy: Separating children from parents unnecessary and costly trauma. 33(10): 4-4. (1p).

Laurence Benenson and Jonathan Haggerty. (2020, April 15). To slow pandemic, Trump should release nonviolent immigrants from detention centers. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/15/coronavirus-pandemic-trump-should-release-migrants-detention-column/2987925001/

Leung, J. E. (2019). 1617. Mumps in Detention Facilities that House Detained Migrants—United States, September 2018–April 2019. Vol. 6, pS589-S590. 2p.

Merchant, N. (2020, April 14). Detained immigrants plead for masks, protection from virus. Retrieved from PBS NEWS HOUR: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/detained-immigrants-plead-for-masks-protection-from-virus

Messing, A. J. (2020). Reproductive Injustice at the US Border . American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 110 Issue 3, p339-344. 6p.

OIG-17-65. (2017, June 02). Result of Office of Inspector General FY 2016 Spot Inspector of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Family Detention Facilities. Retrieved from https://www.ice.gov/detention-management: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2017/OIG-17-65-Jun17.pdf?utm_source=E-mail+Updates&utm_campaign=e1d1c3e779-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7dc4c5d977-e1d1c3e779-45096257

Peng, Z., Xing-Lou, Y., Xian-Guang, W., Ben, H., Lei, Z., Wei, Z., . . . Zheng-Li, S. (2020, Feburay 03). A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7, Nature 579, 270–273. Retrieved from Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7#citeas

Production, V. (Director). (2020, April). This Pandiemic Explained [Motion Picture].

(2019). Seven Urgent Actions to Prepare the World. In G. P. Secretariat, A World At Risk (pp. 7-10). Switzerland: https://apps.who.int/gpmb/assets/annual_report/GPMB_annualreport_2019.pdf.

Short, K. (2020, March 17). Human Rights Advocates with Medical and Legal Expertise Call on Governors, State Health Officials to Direct Reduction, Release of Immigration Detainees to Prevent Coronavirus Spread. Retrieved from Physicians for Human Rights: https://phr.org/news/human-rights-advocates-with-medical-and-legal-expertise-call-on-governors-state-health-officials-to-direct-reduction-release-of-immigration-detainees-to-prevent-coronavirus-spread/

Southwest Border Migration FY 2019. (2019, November 14). Retrieved from https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration/fy-2019

Sunderji, A., Mena, K. N., Winickoff, J., Melinek, J., & Sharfstein, J. (2020). Influenza Vaccination and Migration at the US Southern Border. 110 (4): 466-467. (2p).

 

 

 

Appendix A

 

What types of abuse are reported in immigration detention

(Detention by the numbers, 2020)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix B

Total Apprehensions/Inadmissible

 (Southwest Border Migration FY 2019, 2019)

 

https://portfolium.com/entry/the-lack-of-ppe-in-detention-centers-for-immigrant

Written by:  Greg MD