A nationwide public health crisis may be underway as dozens of workers at an Arizona immigration detention facility have refused to get vaccinated amid a large measles outbreak — currently, the largest outbreak of the disease anywhere in the United States.
Since late May, there have been 22 confirmed measles cases associated with the Eloy Detention Center — a controversial federal immigration detention center operated by the private prison company Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) with the capacity to hold 1,600 detainees that for years has been mired by allegations of abuse and assault against immigrant detainees.
The 22 confirmed cases include nine workers, 12 detainees, and one detainee who was released before showing symptoms, the Arizona Republic reported. There have otherwise been no known confirmed cases involving members of the public who aren’t associated with the facility.
The outbreak began when a contract employee at the Eloy Detention Center showed up at a local emergency room with symptoms consistent with measles. According to the news publication Fronteras Desk, “within two days, health workers were reporting possible exposure at a casino and at a convenience store in Casa Grande.”
“The problem is with the staff that don’t want to comply with our recommendation that started on day one, which is to become vaccinated or provide proof of immunity,” Pinal County health department Director Thomas Schryer told the publication.
The Shocking Way ICE Neglected Immigrant Detainees As They DiedImmigration by CREDIT: AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo At least 18 people detained in U.S. federal immigration custody…thinkprogress.orgA spokesperson for CCA, the company contracted by the U.S. federal government to run the facility, said that most of its employees who work at the Eloy Detention Center have been vaccinated. Pinal County health officials also recently provided free vaccinations in an attempt to stem the outbreak, which employees from other companies who also work in the facility took advantage of.
But county health officials said that of its 100+ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Eloy staffers, many have refused to get vaccinated or show proof that they’ve been vaccinated in the past. The ICE agency does not require its employees to be immunized.
County officials are less concerned about Eloy’s current 1,200 immigrant detainee population because they have been immunized. What’s more, immigrants from Latin American countries who are often overrepresented in detention center facilities are vaccinated at a higher rate for measles immunization than the U.S. for infants, according to the World Health Organization.
The outbreak has had other serious effects. With the detention center under quarantine, the nearby immigration court has also been closed until July 18, at which point there could be a backlog of 790 immigration cases waiting to be heard. Immigration lawyers are frustrated that their clients will continue to wait to plead their cases before an immigration judge.
One of those cases includes an asylum-seeking Mexican family of four that has been held in custody at the Eloy Detention Center since last October. The 63-year-old mother, identified only as G.B., is hoping to seek asylum for her family in the U.S. after one of her sons was kidnapped in Mexico. In April, the family received notification that they would receive a hearing in late June to determine whether they could pay a bond and be released to a family sponsor. But just one week before their scheduled hearing, their lawyer was told that the hearings had been put on hold.
Now we can’t even tell them even when we’ll have a hearing date.
“Now we can’t even tell them even when we’ll have a hearing date,” Margarita Silva, an immigration attorney based in Phoenix who’s representing G.B.’s family, told ThinkProgress. “There are people who have hearings set during this time who had been waiting probably seven, eight nine months, and now it’s gone. When are they going to get back on the calendar?”
Silva said that G.B. has become very depressed without a clear end in sight. “The mom is finding it very hard. She’s used to be busy and being with her family and she’s been locked up since October. At least when we had a hearing set, they had something to look forward to.”
In an update to immigration attorneys, the Executive Office for Immigration Review which oversees immigration courts, wrote last week, “Should the July 18, 2016, date shift again, the immigration court will review any motions to continue consistent with applicable law. Eloy immigration judges are cognizant of the challenges attorneys face in preparing their cases and complying with court deadlines and will take the current situation into account when ruling on motions for continuances.”
Advocates have long criticized the Eloy detention facility as one of the worst places to detain immigrants for civil immigration violations. Just last week, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), a human rights organization, released a report finding that some immigrants received subpar medical care that may have contributed to their deaths.
Still, it may appear that the refusal by ICE employees to get vaccinated is part of a trend in the number of people refusing vaccinations in recent years. Measles — which was once almost eradicated — has recently made a comeback thanks in part to thoroughly debunked anti-vaccine propaganda that claim vaccines can lead to autism.