In the summer of 2020, ICA-Farmville became the site of the largest COVID-19 outbreak in any immigration detention center in the country at the time. The outbreak was caused by ICE's transfer of 74 people, 51 of whom had COVID-19, from detention centers in Florida and Arizona. This suit was filed on behalf of fifteen people detained by ICE atn ICA-Farmville during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak and were being denied their right to safety, medical care, and adequate food while detained. NIPNLG filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia along with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and the Legal Aid Justice Center.
UPDATE: July 6, 2022
A settlement agreement on claims for injunctive relief was reached in Santos Garcia et al. v. Wolf et al. Under the agreement, which will last for two years or until the CDC declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, ICA-Farmville will be allowed to detain a maximum of 180 individuals (roughly 25% capacity) and can only accept transfers of individuals who are vaccinated, asymptomatic, and test negative for COVID-19. The parties also separately agreed to settle the Plaintiffs' damages claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
UPDATE: September 4, 2020
Plaintiffs filed the inspection report of their health expert, Dr. Homer Venters, who inspected Farmville Detention Center on August 20. The report details numerous deficiencies in the facility’s COVID-19 response.
UPDATE: August 11, 2020
Judge Brinkema ordered ICE to stop all transfers into Farmville, and ordered the facility to allow plaintiffs and their expert to get access to the results of a CDC inspection the facility is currently undergoing.
UPDATE: August 7, 2020
We mourn the loss of James Hill, a 72-year-old man who died of COVID-19 after contracting the disease while detained at the Farmville detention center, operated by the private prison company Immigration Centers of America (ICA). Download the entire statement here or below.