Calif. Federal Judge Orders Release of Medically Vulnerable Detainees at ICE Facility

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release detainees at its Otay Mesa, Calif., facility who are at high risk for contracting COVID-19, ruling that “current conditions of their confinement places them at substantial risk of serious illness or death.”

In an April 30 order, Judge Dana Sabraw of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California created a subclass defined as “all civil immigration detainees incarcerated at the Otay Mesa Detention Center who are age 60 or over or who have medical conditions that place them at heightened risk of …