Scabies detected in ICE jail

25 IMMIGRANTS QUARANTINED

Newsroom El Comercio de Colorado

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Federal Immigration Authorities confirmed that 25 undocumented detainees are being held at the detention center in Aurora for scabies. Six cases of this disease are at the cause of outbreak, and there are a total of nineteen suspected cases. ICE has said that the 25 will be quarantined until the treatment of the disease, which was spread by the arrival of immigrants from the southern border.

Prison authorities notified firefighters and local hospitals, a notification procedure that was established by the city of Aurora after another outbreak of contagious diseases in early 2019. Alethea Smock, an ICE spokesperson, stated that each detained person goes through a medical examination upon arrival at the detention center. Smock has clarified that the ICE detention center had no control over previous illnesses of detainees.

 Quarantined

The detainments were decided upon due to the contagiousness of scabies. Just one person can spread the disease to three other people. On top of this, the symptoms of scabies can take weeks to manifest and can easily be mistaken for a mere skin irritation. Earlier this year, detainees and staff received vaccinations against mumps, measles, and chickenpox when those diseases were detected in detainment.

The early 2019 outbreak of contagious diseases was not notified to the health authorities. As a result, the Aurora City Council decided to change existing laws to force ICE detention centers to report the occurrence of contagious diseases. This ICE detention center faces several lawsuits for the death of an Iranian immigrant who did not receive medical treatment during his detention.

Congressman Crow

 Due to these medical malpractice lawsuits, staff of congressman Jason Crow’s office have been conducting weekly inspections of this detention center. Crow went up against the managers of the detention center who were all employed by the GEO company, for their refusal to allow inspections. Crow won against his opposition.