Inside Ice’s pattern of medical neglect as immigrants flown on its planes | US news | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/19/ice-air-immigration-medical-negligence
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The first time Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) flew Marta across the country, she feared catching the coronavirus. After five months of being shuttled among various facilities, she was worried about infecting others. In February, when her cross-country journeys started, Ice knew Marta’s lupus and asthma could increase her risk of contracting the virus and experiencing severe symptoms. By late June, she had tested positive for Covid-19. The detention center clinic gave her pills to suppress her cough, she said. “Nothing else.” Ice didn’t retest Marta, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of agency retaliation. But a few weeks later in July, it put her on one of its chartered jets with dozens of other detainees.
Marta’s story isn’t an anomaly of the current crisis – it exemplifies a broader pattern of medical negligence on Ice flights, a Capital & Main investigation has found. Heart attacks, miscarriages and even a death have all occurred on Ice flights since 2012, according to complaints filed with the agency. Ice says it has ramped up health screenings and sanitation measures on its flights to prevent spreading the coronavirus. But even before the pandemic complicated safe transport, the agency consistently failed to provide adequate medical care to detainees on its chartered jets, sometimes leading to dire health outcomes. Ice has been aware of these problems since at least 2016, according to the agency’s own records. But mismanagement, an opaque privatized flight system and issues with the agency’s formal complaint system have allowed the problems to persist outside of public view.
Despite outcry from activists and warnings from medical professionals, Ice has continued flying immigration detainees across the country and around the world on its network of private planes throughout the pandemic. Onboard Ice flights, the agency frequently fails to provide adequate care. And agency staff are well aware of the problem, which has come up more than 100 times during internal meetings from 2016 to 2019. Marta’s story illustrates one common issue identified in the internal records: Ice staff have repeatedly neglected to get advance approval before transporting detainees with medical conditions, including people who were exposed to infectious diseases. During the pandemic, Ice says, every flight has an extra medical provider on board, and before detainees are cleared for travel, a medical professional reviews each medical record.
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