Senators Want to Know if ICE Detainees Were Pepper Sprayed After Requesting Masks

Both U.S. senators from California are calling for an investigation into reports that detained women at a federal immigration facility in San Diego were pepper sprayed and handcuffed by guards after demanding protective masks.

Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris sent a letter Wednesday asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security inspector general to look into “alarming reports of conduct by staff” during a recent incident at the Otay Mesa Detention Center.

The allegation comes amid mounting calls by public officials and advocates to release people from federal immigration detention facilities during the coronavirus pandemic to stem further spread of the disease.

Seventeen detainees at the Otay Mesa facility have already tested positive for COVID-19, along with 14 staff members from both U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and private prison operator CoreCivic — far more cases than at any other ICE facility.

They are among 100 inmates and 25 employees at two dozen ICE facilities nationwide who have contracted the virus, ICE reported Thursday. No other ICE detention center in California has so far reported cases, although immigration lawyers say that few detainees are being tested for the coronavirus.

In their letter to DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, Feinstein and Harris — along with Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas whose district includes Otay Mesa — requested an immediate investigation into the April 10 incident, which reportedly began when guards told detainees they would have to sign documents in English in order to receive masks to protect against COVID-19.

“People are fearful during this time, particularly those in U.S. custody who are especially vulnerable to infection but face limited access to information about how to protect themselves, limited ability to observe protective measures like social distancing and limited language access services,” the three lawmakers wrote.

“These allegations are all the more troubling in light of your office’s consistent findings during the course of over two years that ICE has failed to adequately protect the health and safety of individuals in its custody.”

San Diego immigrant advocates told KQED that the Otay Mesa incident allegedly began after some female detainees cut up T-shirts to use as improvised masks and were then told by guards that they would have to sign liability release forms if they wanted real masks.

The form was provided in English only, and when one person translated its meaning, the women refused to sign, according to attorney Ian Seruelo, who represents one of the women, a Mexican asylum-seeker who has been detained for more than six months. Seruelo said his client told him a commotion ensued.

“That’s when they called in the male, stronger guards and pepper sprayed them,” said Seruelo. “[My client] said she was able to cover her face. She was handcuffed and taken to isolation. She saw two others handcuffed as well.”

Many of these releases have been ordered by courts responding to a series of lawsuits filed in recent week by advocates around the country. Federal judges in California have ordered the release of at least 10 ICE detainees. Courts have made similar rulings in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, and other cases are pending.

Some elected officials — including Harris and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra — are asking ICE to go further and release detainees who pose no threat to public safety. And this week, Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, introduced a bill to move most inmates out of ICE detention and suspend most immigration enforcement during the current pandemic and future public health emergencies.

People in ICE custody are not serving criminal sentences; they are being held in administrative detention while awaiting hearings in immigration court. The detained population has swelled under President Trump, reaching more than 52,000 last spring.

Meanwhile lawyers for immigrants at Otay Mesa and other detention centers, including the large Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield, say their clients have launched hunger strikes to push for release or at least better protection.

In a recording made Saturday and obtained by KQED, Pablo Ramirez, a detained man at Mesa Verde, said he and others had started a hunger strike the day before.

“There’s virus in here. We have a feeling it might get in here,” said Ramirez. “They’re not treating us with the medical care that we need. They don’t test us for anything. They say they screen, but they don’t even take our temperatures.”

Susan Beaty, a lawyer with Oakland’s Centro Legal de la Raza, who is in touch with detained immigrants at Mesa Verde, said detainees there gave up their hunger strike after guards threatened to deny them access to the commissary, where they buy soap.

Seruelo, the San Diego immigration attorney, said he knew about 20 men at Otay Mesa who had started a hunger strike in early April to protest conditions during the outbreak. But he said most discontinued it after being placed in solitary confinement.

Meanwhile, he continues to push for the release of his client, the woman he said was pepper sprayed. The woman does not have any record of violence, he said, stressing that practically everyone released with an electronic ankle monitor shows up for court. He said his third request for her release, sent two weeks ago, has so far gone unanswered.

“ICE should really move quickly. It’s a very dangerous strain of virus,” said Seruelo. “I don’t understand why they are taking so much risk when we are talking about human lives here.”