**4. Results**

### *4.1. The Continuing Attack on Inhumane Conditions in Immigration Detention: ACLU*

The ACLU responds to the COVID-19 pandemic by taking a critical stance on the conditions within detention—not on detention itself. Of the 32 press releases and 23 blog posts regarding immigration detention from 2020, the majority (28 and 13, respectively) focused on COVID-19 in immigration detention. Given the current social context of the pandemic, ACLU relied more heavily on narratives related to the health risks of imprisoned migrants rather than other factors. Often, this narrative involved ACLU presenting living conditions within detention facilities as a public health issue that creates unnecessary health risks for detained immigrants. In the following, Andre Segura, legal director for the ACLU of Texas, described these risks, arguing that immigration detention is a "clear violation of their constitutional rights":

Detention centers like the Montgomery Processing Center cannot adequately protect the lives of those like our clients: There is no way to practice social distancing in a detention center, and they do not have access to face masks or even regular access to basic hygiene. Limiting the number of people held in jails is critical to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak at MPC and the surrounding community. (ACLU Staff 2020b)

The ACLU's critical stance towards aspects of immigrant detention, however, was not limited to the context of the pandemic alone. In some cases, the ACLU used the pandemic and the increased health risks that it poses as evidence to support the ACLU's position on immigrant detention that predated the pandemic. The following quote from Bobby Hodgson, a staff attorney for the NYCLU, continued calls for ICE to end its "No-Release Policy" that began well before the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., see Kang 2018):

ICE improperly manipulated the detention process to imprison almost everyone they arrest, and right now that decision is putting many people in harm's way as COVID-19 spreads. (ACLU Staff 2020c)

Hodgson emphasized the vulnerability of immigrants as a result of the pandemic and used this victimization as a reason for ICE to act "right now." However, the pandemic itself is not what made ICE's "No-Release Policy" a problem. Other passages about immigration detention operations more generally displayed a similar pattern. The one below, for example, connected problems with immigration detention during the pandemic to a larger pattern of conduct associated with the Trump administration:

The rapid spread of COVID-19 in immigration detention facilities is a prime example of everything that has gone wrong with immigration detention ... It is little coincidence that a disproportionate number of detention centers that now have confirmed cases of COVID-19 came online under the Trump administration. (Cho 2020b)

In the passage, Cho used the pandemic as "a prime example" of problems related to immigration detention under the Trump administration. Rather than depicting COVID-19 as a qualitatively new problem and challenge for immigration detention, Cho employed the pandemic as the latest opportunity to criticize the Trump administration's overall handling of immigration detention without calling for radical change.

While COVID-19 is a prominent part of the passages above, the narratives mirror those that ACLU has used to discuss a number of pre-pandemic topics, such as detention conditions and family separation. Typically, these narratives present immigrants as victims of poor physical and legal conditions at the hands of federal governmen<sup>t</sup> entities. To provide one pre-pandemic example from January 2020, the following quote from Alanah Odoms Herber, ACLU of Louisiana executive director, explained how the Trump administration and immigration agencies victimized asylum seekers by failing to release them from detention on parole in Louisiana:

Seeking asylum is a legal right, but the Trump administration has continued to subject asylum seekers ... to unconscionable and unlawful cruelty ... We will not stand by while ICE uses private contractors to detain and abuse vulnerable people exercising their right to seek asylum at our borders. (ACLU Staff 2020a)

As in passages from the pandemic, Herber's statement expressed how detained immigrants suffered "unconscionable and unlawful cruelty" at the hands of the Trump administration and other federal governmen<sup>t</sup> branches. ACLU, then, did not entirely change its messaging to focus solely on the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, it adapted many previous campaigns to fit within the altered context of immigrant detention in the pandemic era.

### *4.2. Business as Usual: Private Prison Companies*

Private prison companies never discussed the increased risk of infection and spread of the virus in detention facilities, nor did they acknowledge their role in exacerbating the spread of the virus. Of its 16 press releases in 2020, GEO Group referenced the pandemic in four, but the virus was not the focal point of any of them. CoreCivic was more responsive; 22 of its 38 press releases in 2020 discussed COVID-19. However, of these 22, only 11 focused on the pandemic, including announcements regarding testing, deaths, and CoreCivic's Coronavirus Medical Action Plan. The other 11 mentioned the pandemic, but centered on other topics such as financial reports, contract information, and changes in corporate structure. Regardless of CoreCivic's increased acknowledgment of the virus, neither company actually responded to public criticisms of detention in the pandemic era.

When referencing their operations in the context of the pandemic, private prison companies often characterized COVID-19 as a threat to business, and they presented their response to the crisis in a favorable light. They discussed their handling of the pandemic in ways similar to how other businesses might respond to any other challenge. The following quote from Damon Hininger, president and CEO of CoreCivic, illustrates this:

This pandemic is creating unprecedented challenges for businesses and industries... But I believe it can also be an opportunity for organizations to support current employees and help those who may be looking for a new career following a job loss. We are proud to step forward to help in both of these ways. (CoreCivic Staff 2020a)

Here, Hininger distanced CoreCivic from the negative consequences of ongoing immigration detention amid a pandemic to present the company as a positive opportunity for prospective employees in a time when jobs were scarce. Although certainly insensitive to the people who suffered serious health consequences of COVID-19, this tactic of discussing the pandemic in economic terms was common. The passage below from a GEO Group

press release, for example, used the pandemic to explain decreases in the number of people it detained and resultant "lower full-year 2020 revenues":

Our ICE Processing Centers and U.S. Marshals Service facilities began experiencing lower overall occupancy in late March 2020 as a result of declines in crossings and apprehensions along the U.S. Southwest border, as well as, a decrease in court and sentencing activity at the federal level in the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (GEO Group Staff 2020a)

Beyond perpetuating the abstraction of detained people as a profit-generating capacity (Doty and Wheatley 2013; Douglas and Sáenz 2013; Golash-Boza 2016), this passage enabled GEO Group to identify the pandemic as a force defined by its loss of corporate dollars rather than human lives.

When private prison companies acknowledged the effect of the pandemic on individuals, this discussion tended to happen in economic terms with a focus on their employees—not on the individuals they imprison. For example, after discussing the financial impact of the pandemic on GEO Group, the chairperson and CEO, George Zoley, thanked employees:

During the second quarter, we experienced some favorable cost trends that resulted in better than expected financial performance. While we are encouraged by these favorable trends, our company continues to face challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a negative operational and financial impact across several segments of our company. In the face of these challenges, our frontline employees have shown incredible commitment and perseverance, helping our company manage through these difficult times, and we are thankful for their dedication and daily sacrifice. (GEO Group Staff 2020b)

Rather than discussing how the pandemic affected the people that GEO Group detains, Zoley described the economic challenges and thanked the employees for sacrificing themselves. The CEO of CoreCivic went so far as to highlight the company's beneficent approach towards its employees by rewarding them a \$500 Hero bonus for "steadfastly answering the call to serve and protect our communities and those in our care." Hininger explained, "The bonus program is one way we can show our appreciation for their focus and dedication during this challenging time" (CoreCivic Staff 2020a). Once again, any discussion of the companies' commitment to ensure the safety of the individuals they imprison was conspicuously absent.

Despite attempts to focus on their role as an ordinary service-providing business in the midst of the pandemic, private prison companies could not completely escape acknowledging the actual service they provide: prison management. When discussing this aspect of their business, private prison companies described the need for more cautious operations posed by the pandemic and their fulfillment of necessary changes without addressing the increased risk of infection and spread of the virus in detention facilities or acknowledging their role in accelerating the spread of COVID-19. This message appeared as an affirmation that private prison companies prepared and implemented plans to protect those in detention facilities. For example,

CoreCivic is working hard to protect our employees, those entrusted to our care, and our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have a Coronavirus Medical Action Plan in place at each of our facilities, which we've been working on since January. (CoreCivic Staff 2020c)

In this passage, CoreCivic framed itself as a good steward that developed widespread policies to protect its employees, wards, and communities. As it related to detained immigrants, "those entrusted to our care" is a vague and palatable phrase that reinforces CoreCivic's paternalistic authority over a vulnerable and dependent population. When evidence suggested that detention during the COVID-19 pandemic poses a high risk of transmission, private prison companies reaffirmed their implementation of sufficient safety practices and used descriptions of cases as "asymptomatic" to minimize the perceived harm

caused by COVID-19 (e.g., see CoreCivic Staff 2020b). These descriptions of COVID-19 cases within facilities framed private prison companies as beneficent caregivers, which, in turn, deflected attention away from the dangers faced by immigrant detainees related to confinement in a pandemic.

### *4.3. Silence and the "Stolen Promise": ICE*

Instead of applying a generous spin to its role in immigration detention that resembled those used by private prison companies, ICE generally avoided discussing the effects of the pandemic within detention altogether. As an alternative, ICE turned to the "customs" side of its operations to present itself as the solution to a so-called COVID-19 contraband crisis.

ICE's unique presentation of the pandemic became apparent when comparing it both to other organizations' pandemic coverage and to its own pre-pandemic news releases. In 2020, ICE produced 631 news releases, 49 (8%) of which mentioned COVID-19 in some capacity. Notably, 8% is a much smaller relative share of documents compared to those produced by the ACLU (41 of 55, or 75%) or GEO Group and CoreCivic (26 of 55, or 48%) during the same time. While this is not entirely surprising given that each are different groups with distinct (but overlapping) foci, the magnitude of the difference in coverage is still striking, particularly when we examined the content of the material. Prior to the pandemic, ICE typically presented itself as an "immigration" agency that handled enforcement through practices such as detention and deportation. When discussing the pandemic in its 2020 coverage, however, ICE appeared much less consistent in its emphasis on immigration enforcement.

Of the 49 news releases, only six discussed ICE's response to the pandemic within detention facilities, such as reports of people in detention testing positive for the virus and announcements of testing in facilities. For example, Henry Lucero, executive associate director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), talked about ICE's plans to prioritize testing for families in detention:

We take the responsibility to care for the families in our custody very seriously and we are working with all of our partners to determine how to reduce the spread of COVID-19, not only at our FRCs, but at all locations housing ICE detainees. (ICE Staff 2020b)

Here, ICE directly addressed the effects of the virus within its facilities and described its "caring" response, a notable rarity in its news releases given its insistent silence on the prevalence of the virus within its facilities. One possible reason for the small number of news releases directly describing ICE's response to the pandemic in detention facilities might be that ICE developed a webpage devoted to COVID-19 guidance, which was initially posted on 14 March 2020 (ICE Staff 2020c). However, there was a meaningful, qualitative difference between the two forms of communication. A webpage devoted to COVID-19 in detention is not as publicly visible and proactive as press releases and, accordingly, is likely something that would only be discovered by parties actively seeking it out. On the other hand, press releases are documents meant for more widespread public consumption. Given these differences, it is telling that ICE did not actively release many public statements about its response to the virus and instead, relegated this coverage to a single webpage.

Instead of publicly addressing the risks of detention during the COVID-19 pandemic, ICE diverted attention elsewhere in the vast majority of its public content. Oftentimes, ICE focused on other operations and policies that were in place pre-pandemic. Out of the 49 press releases that mentioned COVID-19, 10 addressed policy updates, such as increases in flexibility in workplace compliance and updates to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), and nine discussed additional operations in place, including "removal flights." For example, a news release reported on the return of 209 U.S. citizens "on the return leg of two removal flights via ICE Air Operations":

ICE will continue to work with the State Department to facilitate the safe return of U.S. citizens on future removal flight returns from Guatemala, Honduras and
