Advocates push for ICE detainees to be released from Kandiyohi County Jail due to COVID-19 concerns, sheriff says he doesn t have that power
At least 40 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Kandiyohi County Jail, the most in Minnesota, according to agency s website. 5:33 am, Jan. 9, 2021 ×
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement web pageJarretera / Shutterstock
WILLMAR Following a COVID-19 outbreak at the Kandiyohi County Jail, advocates are calling for the release of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
detainees, many of whom have been infected or are under observation for the virus.
Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Holien counters that inmates are being taken care of and he doesn’t have the power to release inmates.
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Immigrants detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota jails have worried about the spread of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic here in March. Now, more than half the state’s active detainee infections have appeared in a single jail facility in south-central Minnesota.
To date, 26 detainees in Minnesota have been infected with the virus. But 16 of those COVID-19 cases are active right now, according to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. All of the infected detainees are housed in Kandiyohi County Jail in Willmar, Minn., and all currently remain in isolation.
ICE usually places people in custody based on their immigration status and past civil or criminal infractions, while they wait for their immigration cases to be resolved.