Covid-19: unjustified risk to people held in immigration removal centres

Abstract

We agree with McKee and colleagues that any delay in finding solutions to the challenges of covid-19 must be avoided. 1 As they say, there is a disproportionate burden on ethnic minority populations, 2 including those held in immigration removal centres for administrative reasons before potential removal to their country of origin.Experts warned that these institutionalised settings could function as "epidemiological pumps," and recommended urgent measures to prevent the spread of infection. 3 But 653 people remain detained under immigration powers-313 in immigration removal centres and the rest in prisons.