Calls For Investigation After Violence At ICE Detention Center

NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Rep Joe Kennedy and the ACLU are among those calling for an independent investigation of an immigration detention facility after violence erupted during attempted coronavirus testing.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said Friday night 10 ICE detainees at the C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center "rushed violently" at he and correctional officers after the detainees were told they had to be tested for the coronavirus. Hodgson said the detainees each reported multiple symptoms of COVID-19, prompting the necessity for testing.

Hodgson said the detainees barricaded themselves in the the center's B-Wing, "ripped washing machines and pipes off the wall, broke windows and trashed the entire unit." They caused an estimated $25,000 in damage, he said.

Three detainees were taken to the hospital: One for a panic attack, another with a pre-existing condition and a third for "a a medical incident after being removed from the ICE wing."

No correctional officers were injured.

The Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network was among those saying detainees reporting they were attacked by Hodgson himself and only wanted to be treated for symptoms in their own unit.

"All people held at this facility deserve to be treated with humanity and dignity," Kennedy tweeted, calling for an independent investigation.

"I'm concerned by yesterday's incident at the Bristol County House of Correction, & the conflicting accounts," Warren tweeted.

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, called the reports "deeply disturbing."

"Immigration detention has expanded at record levels under the Trump administration; now more than ever, we will not allow the increasingly horrific conditions of ICE detention to be normalized," Rose said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on the Seekonk-Swansea Patch