A 57-year-old man held at a San Diego immigration detention facility has died of COVID-19, immigrant advocates reported Wednesday. It is the first known coronavirus death among the roughly 30,000 people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE officials would not confirm the death, saying the agency’s policy is to announce detainee deaths within 48 hours.
The death comes one week after a federal judge in San Diego ordered ICE to immediately consider dozens of medically vulnerable people, including those 60 or older, for release from detention at Otay Mesa. As of Monday, just two individuals had been released.
There are currently 132 ICE detainees and 10 ICE staff at Otay Mesa who have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the agency. That’s more than triple the number of cases two weeks ago, and by far the largest outbreak at an ICE detention center.