Joaquin Herrera-Herrera, a 60-year-old man detained by ICE on pending immigration proceedings since February, yesterday asked a federal court to release him from the Jerome Combs Detention Center (JCDC) in Kankakee because his age and underlying health conditions make him vulnerable to serious complications and death from COVID-19. Mr. Herrera-Herrera came to the United States at age six, and has resided in the Chicago area for almost his entire life. As a business owner, he placed and serviced vending machines in restaurants and medical offices for decades, providing for his three children and – before his detention – acting as caregiver for his grandson for more than six years. 

Mr. Herrera-Herrera has been diagnosed with hypertension and is a survivor of prostate cancer.  

“Every day that I have been held at Kankakee is another day I am afraid of being infected with COVID-19,” Mr. Herrera-Herrera said in a statement. “I know that my medical conditions make me more vulnerable to the virus. Even though I try to stay safe, it is impossible to feel safe while living in such close quarters at the detention center. If the virus comes into the jail, I could be fighting for my life.”

“Mr. Herrera-Herrera faces a high risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 because of his underlying health conditions,” said Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, legal director at the ACLU of Illinois. “Two federal judges have already ordered the release of medically vulnerable ICE detainees from the Jerome Combs Detention Center because the facility presents an increased danger from the spread of COVID-19.  The detention of Mr. Herrera-Herrera in these conditions recklessly endangers his life in violation of basic principles of fairness and protection from cruel punishment. The court should release him immediately.”  

The complaint filed today references an expert study showing that once coronavirus enters a facility approximate the same size to JCDC, coronavirus will infect as many as 88% of the detainees in 30 days, and accelerate to infecting nearly all (99%) of detainees within 90 days.  

"For months, public health experts have warned that COVID-19 would spread rapidly within ICE detention facilities, with a devastating effect on the people detained, staff who work at the facilities, and their communities," said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Prison Project. 

"Last week, the first known death from COVID-19 in ICE custody was reported. Civil immigrant detention should not be a death sentence, but for our clients — who have underlying medical conditions and other risk factors — a COVID-19 infection likely would be. We urge the court to step in and take immediate action to mitigate the humanitarian crisis we're facing."

As described today, conditions at JCDC foster the spread of COVID-19.  Mr. Herrera-Herrera shares a small cell with another detainee. For much of his detention, he shared the cell with 3 other men, one of whom would have to step on Mr. Herrera-Herrera’s mattress to access a top bunk. 

In addition, detainees spend most of their days in a common area with more than 20 other men. Those detained spend the day gathered around five tables, each with eight stools that sit inches apart from one another. They share other equipment throughout the day – phones, chairs, books, and others – that are not sanitized after every use.  Even spending most of his day in his cells, Mr. Herrera-Herrera must touch some of these same surfaces on a regular basis.

Perhaps most important, Mr. Herrera-Herrera must stand in line several times a day to receive meals and medication with little distance between him and the other detainees.

“Mr. Herrera-Herrera is frightened,” added the ACLU’s Choudhury. “He is fearful that his pre-existing conditions will result in his becoming infected with dire, even deadly, consequences. We will urge the court to release him as soon as possible.”  

Today, another man was released from ICE custody following a Monday ruling by U.S District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that he was likely to succeed in showing that conditions in the McHenry County Jail placed him at risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19. The detainee is represented by the ACLU of Illinois, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Faegre Drinker Biddle and Reath LLP in litigation in federal district court in Chicago.
 
The lawsuit, Dembele v. Prim, was filed on behalf of two detainees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) who suffer from medical conditions recognized to heighten the risk of severe complications and death from COVID-19. It sought release of these individuals because crowded and unsanitary conditions in the McHenry County Jail failed to protect them from the disease and to enable them to protect themselves in violation of due process. The other man in the lawsuit was released in April, days after the suit was filed.  
 
Reacting to the news of the release, Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois, issued the following statement:
 
“We are pleased the federal court recognized that our client was likely to succeed in showing that conditions in the McHenry County Jail placed him at risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19. Both of the people we represented in this lawsuit have been released. But detention facilities remain vectors of coronavirus, and many other medically vulnerable people remain in Illinois’ ICE facilities fearing they will be the next victim of COVID. We will continue to work for the release of others who face these terrifying conditions.”

Today is Mother’s Day. Across the State of Illinois, many of us will contact our own mother – perhaps via Zoom this year – and others will remember mothers no longer with us. Like every year, we will discuss how much we love mothers and how important they are to our individual lives and to our society. 

The value of mothers has never been more clear than 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic has added a lot of new parental responsibilities that have disproportionately fallen on mothers. But words are not enough to express our appreciation - we must act.  

Illinois should pass the Healthy Workplace Act – a bill that would benefit mothers across the state by allowing them to earn up to five paid sick days a year.

More than 40 percent of workers nationally – and over 80 percent of low-wage workers – do not get a single paid sick day. While recent efforts led to legislative changes that created access to paid sick for hundreds of thousands of workers in Chicago and Cook County, there are 1.5 million Illinois workers outside Cook County who still have no right to a single paid sick day.

Access to paid sick leave is an issue that is extremely important for working mothers. Workers who earn lower wages or work part-time – both of which are more likely to be women – typically have less access to paid sick days. Women of color are less likely than white women to have access to paid sick days. This means that enacting paid sick leave policies will disproportionately benefit women and specifically women of color. 

At the same time, over half of working mothers do not have a single sick day that they can use to care for a sick child, while nearly 20 percent have been disciplined for taking time off to care for a child or family member. Mothers are ten times more likely than fathers to take time off to care for a sick child. Having access to paid sick days would help mothers care for their families and themselves. 

Illinois mothers deserve better support caring for their families than we are currently giving them. They deserve paid sick time no matter where they live or how much money they make.