IRTF News

The State of Ohio needs to shut down the Morrow County Jail. The jail is completely infected with COVID-19, and Sheriff Hinton has mismanaged both preparation and response. In a county that is 99% white, the inmates at the county jail are 76% immigrants. And at least 70% of them are now infected with COVID-19. No one in Morrow County Jail, including its staff, deserve the potential death sentence they are being handed by keeping the jail open. Sign the petition here: https://bit.ly/ShutMorrowPetition.

From Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction: There are at least 125 inmates with coronavirus in Ohio jails and 4,437 in the state’s prisons. Of the 78 inmates in the Morrow County Jail, 50 contracted coronavirus. It’s the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in any jail in Ohio. From the testimony of three Morrow inmates (ICE detainees) before US District Court Judge Sarah Morrison in Columbus on May 11: They reported that they sleep in such cramped quarters that they can reach out and touch four other beds. One testified that despite being in the area of the jail that houses coronavirus patients for 16 days, no jail employee had cleaned the area. Detainees get clean clothes every three or four days. Corrections officers take their temperatures, not nurses, and the thermometers used are more than three years beyond their expiration dates.

“This infection is on ICE’s hands,” said Elizabeth Bonham, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. Oscar Lopez Acosta was originally from San Francisco de La Paz, a small municipality about 100 miles northeast of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. April 24: ICE released Oscar Lopez from Morrow County Jail because he and other detainees were experiencing high fever. He returned to his family in Dayton. On May 3, he tested positive for COVID-19. On May 4, ICE confirmed that 47 people in its custody at Morrow County had tested positive. On May 10, Oscar López died from complications from the coronavirus after being released from the hospital, the local coroner’s officer confirmed. Ohio Immigrant Visitation has set up a fundraiser for the family of Oscar Lopez Acosta. They need to cover the cost of his cremation, rent, and other living expenses as well as medical bills. Donate at www.paypal.me/ohioimmigrantvisits

Did you know that the sheriffs of four counties in Ohio are holding ICE immigrant detainees? Local governments are doing the dirty work of the feds in Butler, Geauga, Morrow, and Seneca County Jails. Unjust and insane! Thousands of doctors have spoken out on the need to IMMEDIATELY release detainees in ICE custody. We must demand that our public health departments wake up and echo this urgent call. Immigrant detainees are so desperate that some have gone on hunger strikes, knowingly weakening their immune systems. Lives are in jeopardy as COVID-19 continues to spread.

Congress is undermining our collective health and safety – and endangering our lives – by failing to provide adequate testing, treatment, and cash assistance for millions of immigrants. Our elected leaders are leaving behind DACA recipients, many green card holders, people with Temporary Protected Status, undocumented immigrants, and mixed-status families. Any federal COVID-19 relief package must include all communities. We call on Congress to take two urgent actions to protect us all: make COVID-related testing and treatment available under emergency Medicaid and provide cash assistance to everyone who files taxes.