FILE PHOTO: Signage seen outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a federally owned ICE (Immigration and Customs Control) detention center operated by the CoreCivic prison contractor, amid the outbreak of the disease by coronavirus (COVID-19) in San Diego, California, USA, April 11, 2020. REUTERS / Bing Guan
NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than 930 employees of private contractors who run immigration detention centers in the United States have tested positive for the new coronavirus, according to congressional testimony from company executives on Monday.
The heads of four companies – CoreCivic (CXW.N), The GEO Group (GEO.N), Management & Training Corp (MTC) and LaSalle Corrections, which detain immigrants on contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reported infections among employees in response to questions from legislators.
ICE has reported 45 cases of COVID-19 among its direct staff in detention centers. However, most employees at private centers work for private contractors and are not included in the ICE count.
Lawmakers have expressed concern about the spread of the virus within nearly 70 centers across the country. More than 3,000 immigrants in ICE custody have tested positive for COVID-19, although some have recovered or been released.
Two detainees have died from the disease. On Monday, a 51-year-old Mexican man who had tested positive for the coronavirus died in ICE detention, although the agency said the cause of death had not yet been determined.
House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security Committee Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from New York, said employees included reports of rationing of personal protective equipment, inadequate medical care and delayed testing.
CoreCivic said that approximately 554 of its nearly 14,000 employees tested positive. GEO Group said 167 of its 3,700 employees had returned positive, with 69 recovered and one hospitalized. LaSalle said it had 144 employees with positive COVID-19 tests, of the company’s approximately 3,000 employees, and MTC said 73 of its 1,200 employees had tested positive.
ICE did not comment on the figures or the allegations raised at the hearing.
There are currently about 22,580 detainees in ICE custody, a dramatic drop from the more than 50,000 migrants detained on average daily during fiscal year 2019. Arrests on the US-Mexico border have decreased in recent months and courts have ordered releases, citing coronavirus risks.
Report by Mica Rosenberg; Additional reports by Mimi Dwyer in Los Angeles and Ted Hesson in Washington DC; Dan Grebler and Richard Pullin Edition
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