Tear Down America’s Immigrant Prisons

America’s immigration detention system was a travesty before the coronavirus outbreak. But now it has also become dangerous, not just to the health of those in it but also those on the outside. It’s way past time to release the detainees and dismantle this awful edifice.

One does not need a degree in epidemiology to understand that the cramped and unhygienic living conditions in the 22 detention camps and hundreds of county jails used by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are fertile breeding grounds for the virus. ICE isn’t known for transparency—it took a whole year to report a