My brother died in ICE custody. California’s governor and attorney general must act

The spread of COVID-19 has resulted in hardship, suffering and loss of life for hundreds thousands of families across the globe. As difficult as it is to be separated from a loved one by death, it is even more bitter to know that this loss could have been prevented. There are perhaps no stronger examples of preventable deaths than those of immigrants who are needlessly held in detention while COVID-19 spreads.

Last month, our brother, Choung Woong Ahn, died at the Mesa Verde Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center. He was 74-years-old and gravely ill. He died by suicide. We are grieving and outraged, and we await an impartial investigation and justice for our brother.

We have several questions that demand answers. Why did jailers put our brother in isolation when their own records show that they knew he was suicidal? How could he have died by suicide when staff should have been monitoring him? While we seek justice, we are certain that his tragic death is related to the cruelty going on every day in these facilities. We hope that this devastating loss can serve as a call for justice, action and accountability.

Our brother did not deserve to die, and he did not need to be locked up. He was extremely medically vulnerable. He was 74 and suffering from lung disease, diabetes, hypertension, and had a history of heart attacks. He knew that he was not safe in detention. He petitioned to be released multiple times and participated in hunger strikes in solidarity with his fellow detainees. But his requests were ignored: First by ICE, a callous agency that seems to care more about justifying its punitive detention system than saving human life, and then by Vince Chhabria, an Obama-appointed federal judge who decided that even though conditions at Mesa Verde are dangerous, my elderly brother had to stay locked up.

Our brother should have been released from civil detention while awaiting his day in immigration court. He had already served his time for a prior conviction and should have been allowed to return home to us. Immigration detention is a form of civil detention, and ICE has the power and authority to release virtually anyone it chooses. They could have released our brother. Now it is too late.

ICE is tasked with investigating the circumstances of our brother’s death. The same agency that denied his release, that was fighting tooth and nail to send him away from the country that he has called home for more than 30 years, is now supposed to investigate the circumstances they created to facilitate his death. We don’t need an investigation to know that they are guilty of creating this situation. What we need is justice, particularly for our brother’s friends who remain in detention and continue to organize for their rights.

Justice begins with ICE recognizing that, during a pandemic, all that matters is protecting each other and saving lives. That begins with releasing people who are needlessly detained and ending inhumane, unjust and barbaric practices that keep immigrants separated from their families while they await court proceedings.

It also begins with ending the use of detention facilities, which treat people like our brother as commodities. Our brother died under the care of one of the largest for-profit prison corporations in the world, the GEO Group. People in these facilities are paid $1 a day for a full day’s work, while generating millions of dollars for massive corporations.

We do not expect justice from ICE, or from GEO, however we do seek justice from elected officials in California. Our attorney general must investigate the circumstances of our brother’s death and use his power to find out the truth about abuses in detention centers in California. We also call on the governor to end state transfers into these barbaric facilities, which is how our brother ended up in Mesa Verde in the first place. Gov. Gavin Newsom should also do everything in his power to exercise oversight and accountability over for-profit detention operators.

Lastly, we call on our congressional leaders to do more than simply condemn these deaths. They have the power to visit these facilities and seek accountability, yet they rarely do so.

The grief and heartbreak our family experienced was needless and tragic, but we believe that we must use our grief to stand up for truth, justice and liberty to honor our brother. What happened to him should be a wake-up call for all of us that this should never happen again. As we mourn him and honor his memory, we also speak loudly and clearly that we demand action. We demand justice.

This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 6:00 AM.