ICE to Provide Urgent Medical Care for Two Plaintiffs at California City Detention Facility Following Emergency Filing聽
SAN FRANCISCO 鈥 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreed yesterday to provide immediate medical care for two individuals being held in the California City Detention Facility, after the individuals filed their petition for emergency relief. The agreement was entered as a court order by the federal judge in San Francisco overseeing the case.
Earlier this month, Yuri Roque Campos and Fernando Viera Reyes filed the motion seeking medical care on an emergency basis after medical staff at the facility ignored their worsening health issues. A medical expert previously warned in a sworn declaration that any delays in medical care would lead to suffering and even possible death.
The duo are represented by the Prison Law Office, Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP, the 老熟女午夜福利, and the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, and are part of an ongoing class-action lawsuit challenging the abusive conditions in the California City Detention Facility, California鈥檚 largest immigration detention facility.
Quotes from co-counsel are as follows:
鈥淲hile we鈥檙e relieved that Mr. Roque Campos and Mr. Viera Reyes will finally receive the medical care they urgently need, ICE should have never denied them adequate medical care in the first place,鈥 said Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU鈥檚 National Prison Project. 鈥淢any more people remain at the detention facility, facing the same inhumane conditions that put these two men鈥檚 lives in jeopardy. We will continue to fight to ensure all people detained at the California City Detention Facility receive the medical care that they urgently need.鈥
鈥淚t should not take a team of lawyers and a federal judge鈥檚 attention to ensure that people in ICE鈥檚 custody have access to adequate medical care when facing life-threatening medical issues,鈥 said Cody Harris, partner at Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP. 鈥淲e are relieved that our motion spurred the government to act after months of neglect. We now turn our attention to ensuring that the conditions and medical care at California City comply with the law.鈥
鈥淵uri Roque Campos and Fernando Viera Reyes should not have had to wait months to get the medical care ICE knew they needed the moment they arrived at the facility,鈥 said Tess Borden, supervising staff attorney at the Prison Law Office. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not stopping with this win. We鈥檒l continue to work to ensure that they鈥 and everyone detained at California City 鈥 receive the medical care they need and are entitled to under the law.鈥
The order is online here.