Immigration Perspectives: COVID-19 Edition, Week 3

In the last weeks, a rising drumbeat of immigration advocates, members of Congress and even federal courts have been taking note of the threat of COVID-19 to migrants held in detention facilities in the United States. Advocates and even doctors have been stressing that for migrants in detention there is no way to practice social distancing, and the changes of widespread transmission among detainees and among the workers at the facilities and their communities would be high if COVID-19 is discovered in a facility. In the last month, detainees or workers have tested positive at immigration detention facilities in Otay Mesa, California, Texas, New Jersey, and Georgia. Fear of the virus caused an uprising in a Texas ICE detention center and other facilities have seen detainees go on hunger strikes. Federal courts in Pennsylvania and New York have ordered the release of particularly vulnerable immigrants in facilities in those states. Finally, Federal District Judge Dolly Gee, who oversees the Flores settlement that governs the care and treatment of minors in U.S. immigration custody, ordered the government to make every effort to release four plaintiffs as soon as possible and “show cause” why other families and children could not be released from custody immediately. 

Lawmakers are joining the call, with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sending a letter to ICE to urge that migrants be released. However, ICE remains reluctant to release migrants categorically, with an ICE spokeswoman telling The Hill that the agency will continue to consider requests for release on a case-by-case basis. However, it is worth noting that well before COVID-19 hit the immigration detention system, government watchdogs have expressed concerns about medical care at detention centers. While many advocates have been arguing for significant changes to immigrant detention and reductions in the number of migrants detained, even conservative organizations are now calling for reforms. For instance, the R Street Institute has argued that the cost of the inadequate medical care these facilities is growing while alternatives to detention for low-security but high medical risk migrants could save taxpayer money. But the new threat of coronavirus spreading to facility employees and their local communities might result in some bigger changes.

The agencies that process immigration applications and petitions continue a slow drip of processing changes to address the new reality of stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and telework for government employees. USCIS issued a welcome notice to DACA renewal applicants and others who require biometrics to file their employment authorization documents, stating it will use previously taken biometrics for the renewals. USCIS also informed attorneys and other filers that it will not require so-called “wet” signatures on forms, but that photocopies of signed documents are acceptable for the time being. While these steps are not as helpful as accepting fully digital signatures, since they still require sending paperwork back and forth, it is a step in the right direction. 

The agency has also extended the time to respond to Notices of Intent to Deny and other filing deficiency notices to 60 days, providing a bit more breathing room for individuals whose status is pending adjudication. However, the administration could do more, like granting automatic extensions of work authorizations for those whose status would expire during this crisis. That would allow individuals, many of whom are also on the front lines of dealing with this pandemic, to avoid worrying about their status in the middle of all of this. 

Meanwhile, immigration courts continue to work even though the Department of Justice postponed non-detained cases until after May 1 and rescheduled Migration Protection Protocol cases, meaning migrants must continue to wait in Mexico. However, immigration attorneys and judges are still calling for a full closure to protect lawyers, their clients and court personnel, although many courts are trying to expand electronic filings. The lack of a coordinated and comprehensive response from the immigration system indicates a lack of planning about the potential impacts of service disruptions and how to protect all parties in the middle of a pandemic. 

This week, numerous news outlets covered stories about immigrants working in front line occupations responding to the coronavirus outbreak. According to a Migration Policy Institute report, 29% of all physicians, almost a quarter of nursing assistants, and more than a third of all home health aides are foreign born. If you include janitors and building cleaners in the healthcare industry as front-line responders – and we should, since we all have now come to recognize how important their work is to preventing the spread of the virus – we’re talking over 6 million immigrants who are on the front lines of dealing with and responding to COVID-19. 

But in our social isolation across the country, we have also come to appreciate the formerly unappreciated – the farmworkers, food processors, grocery store clerks, and delivery and transportation workers—all job positions where immigrants are highly represented. However, many of these are undocumented will not benefit from any of the relief package passed by Congress. While BPC has previously noted the contributions of immigrants in the workforce, perhaps this newfound appreciation for the work they do will help policymakers come together to address long-needed immigration reforms.