article: COVID-19 Summary: This is a hybrid putative class action and habeas action filed by a group of medically vulnerable individuals being held in civil detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at York County Prison and Pike County Correctional Facility. The plaintiffs seek safety remedies and release from detention in light of COVID-19. The court granted the plaintiffs’ temporary restraining order on April 7, 2020. Defendants appealed. The Third Circuit vacated and remanded the decision for a temporary restraining order on August 25, 2020. The case is ongoing. <hr> A group of 22 medically vulnerable plaintiffs in civil detention facing potential deportation filed a hybrid putative class action and habeas corpus proceeding in the United States District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania asking for release in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 3, 2020, represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the law firm Dechert LLP, the plaintiffs asked for a temporary restraining order against the detention centers and their wardens, including Mr. Clair Doll in his official capacity as the warden of the York County Prison, Craig A. Lowe as Warden of Pike County Correctional Facility, Simona Flores-Lund as Field Office Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Matthew Albence as Acting Director of ICE, and Chad Wolf as Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The plaintiffs based their request to the court on the defendants’ alleged failures to adequately protect high-risk detainees from contracting COVID-19. Since March 31, 2020, the conditions at the facilities had deteriorated, with cramped, overcrowded facilities hindering social distancing, increased numbers of positive COVID-19 test results, and the rising necessity of quarantining. They based their claim for relief on the similarities between this case and Thakker v. Doll (found <a href="https://clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=17460">here</a> in the Clearinghouse), where the court found that the ICE detention centers could not provide adequately safe conditions for the detainees and thereby ordered their release. On April 7, 2020, Judge John E. Jones III of the federal district court issued a temporary restraining order and granted the immediate release of the 22 plaintiffs. On April 10, the defendants’ Application to Stay all Proceedings Pending Appeal was denied. The case was appealed to the the Third Circuit, which vacated and remanded the the decision for a temporary restraining order on August 25, 2020. See Hope v. Warden York Cty. Prison, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 26968. The case is ongoing.
summary: COVID-19 Summary: This is a putative habeas action filed by a group of medically vulnerable individuals being held in civil detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at York County Prison and Pike County Correctional Facility. The plaintiffs seek safety remedies and release from detention in light of COVID-19. The Third Circuit vacated and remanded the decision for a temporary restraining order on August, 25, 2020. The case is ongoing. <hr>