Will the COVID-19 pandemic be the catalyst for overhauling the systemic torture of immigration detention? Melanie Pino-Elliott isn't so sure.

FFI's third report on the impact of COVID-19 in detention facilities contains deeply disturbing information about the rapid spread of the virus - and ICE's irresponsible and dangerous responses.

Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia, 57, is the first person in ICE custody to die of the COVID-19 virus. His bond request was denied on April 15.

"... a man was placed in isolation for five days without any test. He didn’t get food or a shower or toothpaste. It was cold, and they didn’t give him adequate clothes. No one checked on him. He was neglected and ignored."

Hunger striker: "We could die here. We cannot do social distancing and people are coming in and out every day."

COVID-19 cases in detention facilities are hitting new records daily - with hundreds reports of medical neglect, abuse, and retaliation continue to pour into FFI's hotline.

As the number of COVID-19 cases at Otay Mesa rises, so do alarming reports of hunger strikes and the use of pepper spray.

Recent court rulings are starting to recognize the imminent danger faced by immigrants in detention as the pandemic continues to spread.

by Cindy KnoebelThe chorus of calls for help from immigrants trapped inside detention centers keep growing ... and growing. Reports from the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, CA are particularly troubling. On March 25, eighty-five men wrote a petition to ICE; on March 30, the Interfaith Movement for Human