Will Deportations Spread Coronavirus?

Many countries in the world, such as Italy, Spain, and the US, have been hit hard by the Coronavirus, while others have not had as many cases thus far. Developing countries that don’t have as much access to high quality medical care want to guard their populations from being exposed to the virus. 

However, recent deportations from the U.S. to Guatemala, Haiti, and countries in Latin America have alarmed immigration attorneys, U.S. lawmakers, and local officials. There were 232 likely deportation flights to Latin America and Caribbean countries between February 3, 2020 and April 24, 2020, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Upon arrival in their home country, many migrants are testing positive for COVID-19, after living in various detention facilities in the U.S. Local healthcare workers are aware of how quickly the virus can spread and want to prevent it from infecting the rest of the population.   

Deportations from the U.S. have decreased since March 2020 when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) declared that their Enforcement and Removal Operations division will “delay enforcement actions” and use “alternatives to detention” amid the outbreak. However, ICE will continue to investigate criminal activity including drug and gang related crimes and child exploitation. Their main focus will be on people who have already been convicted of a crime for mandatory detention and deportation. During March 2020, ICE completed  17,965 removals, and by mid-April there were only 2,985 deportations from the U.S. But how many of these people arrived in their home country carrying the Coronavirus?

Compared to the last fiscal year, running from October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019, ICE deported more than 267,000 people, or 22,250 per month, a 4% increase from the year before. 

Guatemalans Arriving with COVID-19

By April 26, 2020, 100 people deported to Guatemala had tested positive for COVID-19. In two flights in late March and mid-April alone, between 60 and 75 percent of migrants tested positive for the disease upon arrival. President Alejandro Giammattei called for a temporary halt to incoming flights carrying deportees from the U.S., but he was unable to uphold this suspension. Flights resumed two days later after the U.S. agreed to put in place certain health measures such as testing some deportees before they were put on a plane to their home countries. 

ICE officials claim the agency conducts a “visual screening” of all deportees and checks temperatures before people are put on chartered deportation flights. In mid-April ICE announced that any detainee with a temperature of 99 degrees or higher would be immediately referred to a medical provider for further evaluation and observation. However, it has been shown there could be at least a one to two week incubation period where people do not show any symptoms but are still carrying the virus. No actual testing is being done before detainees are put on a plane. 

ICE requested that researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) go to Guatemala in April “to review and validate the COVID-19 tests performed on those arriving,” according to Jenny Burke, an ICE spokeswoman. Ms. Burke said the agency would then “re-evaluate current medical procedures with CDC guidance to ensure that any newly necessary practices are implemented.”

The Guatemalan government has estimated that 20% of the country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases are recently returned immigrants. Telemundo reported on April 16 that a group of people from Quetzaltenango threatened to burn down a building holding recent deportees whom they thought were carrying the virus.     

ICE officials claim the agency conducts a “visual screening” of all deportees and checks temperatures before people are put on chartered deportation flights. In mid-April ICE announced that any detainee with a temperature of 99 degrees or higher would be immediately referred to a medical provider for further evaluation and observation. However, it has been shown there could be at least a one to two week incubation period where people do not show any symptoms but are still carrying the virus. No actual testing is being done before detainees are put on a plane. 

ICE requested that researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) go to Guatemala in April “to review and validate the COVID-19 tests performed on those arriving,” according to Jenny Burke, an ICE spokeswoman. Ms. Burke said the agency would then “re-evaluate current medical procedures with CDC guidance to ensure that any newly necessary practices are implemented.”

Unaccompanied Minors among the Deportees

In March 2020, 95 unaccompanied children and teenagers were deported to Guatemala, up from 16 in January. During the first half of April, another 92 minors were deported according to the Guatemalan government. This was a major change from previous ICE practices, where unaccompanied minors were taken to shelters operated by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and usually given a chance to apply for asylum in the United States. They were only deported after a long legal process with the help of a social worker and a court appointed lawyer in some cases. Now, they can be deported without these protections, which advocates say puts them at a greater risk of kidnapping or exploitation. 

Haiti Braces for the Worst

It would certainly be disastrous if the Coronavirus made its way into Haiti. According to a 2019 study by the Research and Education Consortium for Acute Care in Haiti, the country has just 124 ICU beds and the ability to ventilate less than 100 patients for a population of 11 million. There are only 0.2 doctors per 1,000 people and they have the highest rate of tuberculosis in the Western hemisphere. In addition, there is a shortage of personal protection equipment in the country. 

At least three deportees to Haiti have already tested positive and yet another 129 Haitians were deported on April 23. These deportees were put into a 14-day quarantine in government-designated hotels. However, security at such facilities has proven to be weak since one of the three deportees who tested positive for the virus escaped. 

In a note of irony, Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network reports that at the same time that the U.S. is deporting Haitians, the U.S. government is encouraging the release of some prisoners from Haiti’s overcrowded jail cells to limit the spread of COVID-19 inside prisons.

Haiti borders the Dominican Republic, which is one of the worst affected countries in the region. With 8,480 cases and 354 deaths, it is expected that thousands of Haitian people working there will soon be returning home.  

Latin America

ICE chartered flights continue to carry deportees from the United States to Latin America. In Ecuador, the government estimated 503 deaths from coronavirus, but an analysis by the New York Times suggests the death toll is 15 times higher than its official tally. “With bodies abandoned on sidewalks, slumped in wheelchairs, packed into cardboard coffins and stacked by the hundreds in morgues, it is clear that Ecuador has been devastated by the coronavirus,” remarks New York Times reporter José María León Cabrera. As the chart below indicates, flights to Ecuador have decreased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there have still been three since March 13.

Brazil has also experienced a large number of Coronavirus cases with resulting deaths. There are at least 116,299 people who had Coronavirus, according to the Ministry of Health, and as of May 6, over 7,966 people had died. But deportation flights from the U.S. continue to arrive.

Source: Flight Aware

More Testing Before Deportations

In response to complaints from foreign governments, ICE announced on April 24 that it plans to begin testing some migrants in detention for COVID-19 before deporting them. ICE will acquire 2,000 tests per month from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to screen deportees but is unlikely to have enough tests for all and will need to prioritize.

Suzanne Driscoll is a staff writer for Sharemoney. Hailing from Rochester, New York, she has written for national publications on issues involving business, healthcare, education and immigration.