Despite an increased effort to vaccinate migrants held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, a large number of people in El Paso-area ICE detention have refused the vaccine, according to local officials and legal advocates.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said that among those offered the vaccine at local ICE detention facilities, only about 33% accepted.
Immigrant rights advocates said issues with the vaccination efforts are linked to an array of structural problems with the federal agency, including: a pattern of medical neglect that fuels distrust among migrants, language access issues that spur confusion and lead to misinformation, and a lack of a systematic nationwide protocol for vaccinating people in ICE detention. ICE officials in El Paso did not respond to a request for specific vaccine refusal rate data.
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Source: Efforts to vaccinate ICE detainees hindered by distrust, misinformation | El Paso Matters