In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, today, a federal judge ordered a review process to identify people for release detained at the Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Bakersfield and the Yuba County Jail in Marysville in order to enable social distancing inside the centers.
The move comes in response to a challenge filed on behalf of everyone detained at these two facilities. The plaintiffs, claimed that “current conditions at the facilities violate class members’ due process rights by unreasonably exposing them to a significant risk of harm,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated in a press release today.
“Immigrants at both of these facilities sleep in packed dormitory rooms on bunk beds bolted to the floor only a few feet from each other. They use shared bathrooms, shoulder to shoulder with someone at the next sink and arms length from the next stall. They line up to get meals in crowded cafeterias, and are not provided resources for adequate sanitation and hygiene,” the press release said.
