Two Dozen Immigrants Deported from Essex County Jail Amid Coronavirus Fears

WNYC has learned that two dozen immigrants were deported from Newark on Tuesday, raising fears that the United States is exporting the coronavirus. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed the deportations—"removals," the agency said—but did not say if they were tested for COVID-19 before they were put on flights. Nationwide, Reuters reported that recently deported immigrants have tested positive for the disease in Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala.

At Newark's Essex County Correctional Facility, which contracts with ICE to jail immigrants, the county reports more than a hundred people, mostly staff, have tested positive for the coronavirus. Since the pandemic began, the immigrant detainee population at the jail has gone down 27 percent, largely due to discretionary releases by ICE and court orders.