Rep Omar: “We Need To Release ICE Detainees, People Held On Bail & Anyone [Who] Qualifies For Work Release”

[Image source: NBC News video screenshot.}

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) took to Twitter on Tuesday, calling to “release ICE detainees” amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

“We need to release ICE detainees, people held on bail, and anyone [who] qualifies for work release,” she tweeted.

“We need a moratorium on incarcerating people who are low risk to others. We need an increase in medical staff in prison and jails,” Rep. Ilhan Omar said.

“Incarcerated individuals deserve our humanity too,” she added on Twitter.

According to ICE, a 31-year-old Mexican national in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey, has tested positive for COVID-19.

The individual has been quarantined and is receiving care. Consistent with CDC guidelines, those who have come in contact with the individual have been cohorted and are being monitored for symptoms. ICE is suspending intake at the facility until further information is available, as reported by ICE.


Rep. Ilhan Omar’s tweet:

Last week, Alexander Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) confronted an ICE agent at LaGuardia Airport who helped transport six immigrant children from Texas to New York amid the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Democracy Now, the congress member intervened after the immigrant rights group New Sanctuary Coalition sounded the alarm on the transportation of the minors.

(Related: Judge Jeanine Shreds Pelosi For Appeasing Omar’s Behavior: ‘The Joke Is On You, Nancy’)