My name is Rodney London. I am detained at Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, FL. I will be 51 in October, and I am terrified about my continued detention and the COVID-19 pandemic.
I myself have been diagnosed with asthma and hypertension. The Mexican immigrant Onoval Perez-Montufa, who died of COVID-19 complications at the age of 51 on Sunday [July 12], is a prime example of the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic in jails and detention centers. It also highlights the inability and unwillingness of ICE to let the detainees go due to the pandemic, especially those that have underlying medical conditions that put them at a higher risk. Several district courts across the country have ordered the release of alien detainees explaining that pressing health risk of COVID-19 combined with ICE detention necessitate release. The Attorney General William Barr urged the Federal Bureau of Prisons of the prioritization of home confinement, noting "[w]e have to move with dispatch... to move vulnerable inmates out of these institutions."
ICE's deliberate inaction put us all at a great risk, there is no vaccine for death, just like no vaccine for COVID-19 pandemic. Death is a final order, just not the final order we want as detainees, especially if it can be prevented by some form of action, or some form of alternative detention particularly for people with underlying medical condition. I pray that the decision makers in Washington, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Judges presiding over us make a decision to release us before this COVID-19 pandemic becomes our Final Order of Removal. I would like to return to my family the same way I left them, please help
Yours respectfully
Rodney London
Editor's note: As of July 23, ICE reported 139 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Glades County Detention Center.