Latest news with #LuisManuelRivasVelasquez
The Independent
11 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Lawyers say immigrants battling medical emergencies and disease at Alligator Alcatraz: ‘I don't want to die in here'
A respiratory disease allegedly sweeping through Alligator Alcatraz has prompted multiple affidavits in support of a class-action lawsuit against the remote Florida immigrant detention center. Lawyers and migrants being held inside the Everglades facility have reported a trend of negligence and worsening conditions, including a mystery illness, possibly Covid-19, running rampant through the camp. Eric Lee, an attorney for former detainee Luis Manuel Rivas Velásquez, filed a complaint on Wednesday against Alligator Alcatraz, accusing it of being a 'petri dish for disease.' Last Thursday, Velásquez, a 38-year-old Venezuelan influencer, told Lee that he fell seriously ill with breathing problems. After allegedly being denied medical care for 48 hours, at one point, the detainee collapsed and became unresponsive. In the filings, Lee said that Velásquez was taken to Miami's Kendall regional medical center and diagnosed with a respiratory infection before being briefly returned to the Florida camp and then transferred to another facility in El Paso, Texas. The Department of Homeland released a statement on Thursday and said that Velásquez 'fainted and was taken to the hospital out of precaution.' Along with reporting respiratory symptoms, the plaintiff said that conditions at the facility had deteriorated significantly, with more detainees falling ill. Lee told the Guardian on Tuesday that 'multiple detainees' have informed him that the 'vast majority' of those held in the camp have become sick. 'There are people who are losing breath,' he said. 'There are people who are walking around coughing on one another.' Protesters at the jail gates say they have recorded several instances of ambulances arriving and leaving. However, the DHS said in its statement that there is 'no widespread disease circulating at Alligator Alcatraz' and 'no cases of COVID and no cases of Tuberculosis.' In an earlier statement to the Miami New Times, Stephanie Hartman, a department spokesperson, did not answer questions about a possible outbreak. 'Detainees have access to a 24/7, fully staffed medical facility with a pharmacy on site,' she said. After being transferred to the El Paso facility, Velásquez reportedly called Lee and said that his condition was worsening. 'I don't want to die in here,' he told Lee on the phone call before abruptly being cut off, according to the filing. In a separate filing, detainees and attorneys alleged that Alligator Alcatraz had poor sanitation, limited access to legal counsel, and overcrowded tented housing. Plaintiffs portrayed the site as lacking 'adequate medical infrastructure' with hundreds of migrants 'crammed into close quarters in extreme heat and humidity, with poor ventilation and limited access to hygiene.' According to the filing, detainees have been left in their bunks without testing or treatment. It also accuses immigration officials of erecting 'an unconstitutional barrier between detainees and their counsel.' Federal judges have recently intervened in other detention settings to order improved conditions after lawyers documented unsafe and unsanitary environments. Separately, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Mary Williams last Thursday temporarily halted any further construction of Alligator Alcatraz after two days of testimony about the environmental impact of the site. In response, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that 'operations at Alligator Alcatraz are ongoing and deportations are continuing.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Petri dish for disease': attorney raises alarm of possible Covid outbreak at ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
An outbreak of a respiratory disease, possibly Covid-19, is running rampant through the remote Florida immigration jail known as 'Alligator Alcatraz', according to the attorney of an infected detainee removed from the camp last week. Eric Lee said he was told by his client Luis Manuel Rivas Velásquez that conditions at the facility had deteriorated significantly since Thursday as more migrants held there by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency experienced symptoms. Lee said authorities removed Rivas Velásquez, a 38-year-old Venezuelan man, from the camp after he was diagnosed in a hospital visit last week, then secretly taken to a similar facility in Texas. Related: Advocates demand closure of 'Alligator Alcatraz', citing appalling conditions Protesters at the gates of the jail in the heart of the Florida Everglades have recorded a number of instances of ambulances arriving and leaving. Lee said the hastily erected tented camp, which Democratic lawmakers have decried for holding thousands of undocumented detainees in cages as they await deportation, is a 'petri dish for disease'. He added: 'Based on what multiple detainees have told me, in the last 72 to 100 hours, there is some respiratory disease which has made the majority, or I would even say vast majority of detainees, sick in some form. 'There are people who are losing breath. There are people who are walking around coughing on one another. Their requests for masks from the guards are denied, and they only are allowed to shower once or maybe twice a week. 'I said to Luis, 'pass the phone. Let me hear it from somebody else. I just want to make sure that people's stories are straight.' And unfortunately they very much are.' The development follows a claim by a woman, a state licensed corrections officer, who said she contracted Covid-19 after working at the camp in unsanitary conditions for about a week last month, and was subsequently fired. 'We had to use the porta-johns. We didn't have hot water half the time. Our bathrooms were backed up,' the woman told NBC6 News after being granted anonymity to discuss conditions there. '[The detainees] have no sunlight. There's no clock in there. They don't even know what time of the day it is. The bathrooms are backed up because so many people [are] using them.' The Florida department of emergency management, which is responsible for operations at the jail, did not immediately respond to a request from the Guardian for comment. In a statement to the Miami New Times, Stephanie Hartman, a department spokesperson, did not answer questions about a possible outbreak, but insisted: 'Detainees have access to a 24/7, fully staffed medical facility with a pharmacy on site.' Lee said Rivas Velásquez told him in a phone call that he pleaded for medical attention for 48 hours after contracting breathing difficulties, and eventually collapsed inside the metal cage in which he and dozens of other inmates were being held. He said his client was taken to Miami's Kendall regional medical center, where he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection, then returned only briefly to the Everglades camp before disappearing for three days. Lee said Rivas Velásquez called on Sunday from a new detention camp in El Paso, Texas. 'He said when he was returned to the Alcatraz facility he asked the guards to provide his medical records and they said they would not do that,' Lee said. 'The guards came to his bed, opened his pillow, took all the poetry and letters he'd been writing, and all the notes he'd been taking about his experiences, and told him he's no longer allowed to write.' Apart from the brief call from Texas, Lee said he had no further information about his client's wellbeing. 'I haven't heard from him for two days now. I have no idea how he's doing or frankly whether he's alive or not. It's hard to wage a legal fight when you don't even have access to your client,' he said. If the outbreak is Covid, Lee added, it would have consequences beyond Alligator Alcatraz. 'The disease doesn't recognize the prison walls and guards are going to get sick. They'll give it to their kids, it's going to get into the Miami school system, people are going to get sick and die as a result of the conditions that are in this facility,' he said. Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Petri dish for disease': attorney raises alarm of possible Covid outbreak at ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
An outbreak of a respiratory disease, possibly Covid-19, is running rampant through the remote Florida immigration jail known as 'Alligator Alcatraz', according to the attorney of an infected detainee removed from the camp last week. Eric Lee said he was told by his client Luis Manuel Rivas Velasquez that conditions at the facility had deteriorated significantly since Thursday as more migrants held there by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency experienced symptoms. Lee said authorities removed Rivas Velasquez, a 38-year-old Venezuelan man, from the camp after he was diagnosed in a hospital visit last week, then secretly taken to a similar facility in Texas. Protestors at the gates of the jail in the heart of the Florida Everglades have recorded a number of instances of ambulances arriving and leaving. Lee said the hastily erected tented camp, which Democratic lawmakers have decried for holding thousands of undocumented detainees in cages as they await deportation, is a 'petri dish for disease'. He added: 'Based on what multiple detainees have told me, in the last 72 to 100 hours, there is some respiratory disease which has made the majority, or I would even say vast majority of detainees, sick in some form. 'There are people who are losing breath. There are people who are walking around coughing on one another. Their requests for masks from the guards are denied, and they only are allowed to shower once or maybe twice a week. 'I said to Luis, 'pass the phone. Let me hear it from somebody else. I just want to make sure that people's stories are straight'. And unfortunately they very much are.' The development follows a claim by a woman, a state licensed corrections officer, who said she contracted Covid-19 after working at the camp in unsanitary conditions for about a week last month, and was subsequently fired. 'We had to use the porta-johns. We didn't have hot water half the time. Our bathrooms were backed up,' the woman told NBC6 News after being granted anonymity to discuss conditions there. '[The detainees] have no sunlight. There's no clock in there. They don't even know what time of the day it is. The bathrooms are backed up because so many people [are] using them.' The Florida department of emergency management, which is responsible for operations at the jail, did not immediately respond to a request from the Guardian for comment. In a statement to the Miami New Times, Stephanie Hartman, a department spokesperson, did not answer questions about a possible outbreak, but insisted: 'Detainees have access to a 24/7, fully staffed medical facility with a pharmacy on site.' Lee said Rivas Velasquez told him in a phone call that he pleaded for medical attention for 48 hours after contracting breathing difficulties, and eventually collapsed inside the metal cage in which he and dozens of other inmates were being held. He said his client was taken to Miami's Kendall Regional Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection, then returned only briefly to the Everglades camp before disappearing for three days. Lee said Rivas Velasquez called on Sunday from a new detention camp in El Paso, Texas. 'He said when he was returned to the Alcatraz facility he asked the guards to provide his medical records and they said they would not do that,' Lee said. 'The guards came to his bed, opened his pillow, took all the poetry and letters he'd been writing, and all the notes he'd been taking about his experiences, and told him he's no longer allowed to write.' Apart from the brief call from Texas, Lee said he had no further information about his client's wellbeing. 'I haven't heard from him for two days now. I have no idea how he's doing or frankly whether he's alive or not. It's hard to wage a legal fight when you don't even have access to your client,' he said. If the outbreak is Covid, Lee added, it would have consequences beyond Alligator Alcatraz. 'The disease doesn't recognize the prison walls and guards are going to get sick. They'll give it to their kids, it's going to get into the Miami school system, people are going to get sick and die as a result of the conditions that are in this facility,' he said.
