The American Civil Liberties Union is representing 22 immigration detainees in a lawsuit seeking their release from Pennsylvania’s county facilities because they are more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
The ACLU and Philadelphia-based Dechert LLP law firm filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Friday.
This was the same day the state Supreme Court denied the Pennsylvania ACLU’s emergency petition for mass release of county jail inmates to reduce the coronavirus spread.
That emergency petition had been filed on behalf of a Lehigh County inmate and others.
Friday’s lawsuit comes after a recent federal court ruling in Harrisburg freed nearly a dozen people on grounds that their immigration detention was unconstitutional, ACLU spokesman Ian Pajer-Rogers said.
“Those filing [Friday’s] action argue that the cramped and unsanitary conditions of the jails in York and Pike counties increase the likelihood that they could become infected and that their plight matches those who were previously ordered to be released,” Pajer-Rogers said.
“All of the plaintiffs are at significantly elevated risk of becoming seriously ill or dying if they contract the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, because they are over age 65, have certain preexisting health conditions, or both,” he said. “All are held under civil law and are awaiting disposition of their immigration appeals.”
Pike County commissioners said Thursday that a Pike County inmate, three staff members and one contract employee have tested positive, Pajer-Rogers said.
Morning Call reporter Andrew Scott can be reached at 610-820-6508 or ascott@mcall.com.
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