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In a statement, Bryan Cox, the agency's public affairs director for the southern region, said that “ICE has taken extensive actions to stem the potential spread of COVID-19, which includes a case-by-case, totality of the circumstances [and] custody determination for all persons, which is always done."
Although ICE does not have a breakdown of how many people have been tested in the New Orleans district, they have tested 1,686 detainees for COVID-19, with 869 testing positive, according to their latest figures.
Gonzalez said around 500 immigrant detainees or their families have contacted the law center's hotline to acquire more information on the lawsuit and seek assistance. Although they come from several countries, including Venezuela and Nicaragua, the vast majority are from Cuba and have sponsors in Florida.
The three groups make up the fastest-growing segments of the immigration backlog, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, with those from Cuba seeing the highest increase, at 374 percent.
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