New York, March 28 (RHC)-- In the U.S., three unaccompanied immigrant children have tested positive for COVID-19 as they remain in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in New York.  Five staff members and one staff contractor at three separate facilities in New York also recently tested positive. 

However, the agency says it will continue to hold separated children in its custody until quarantines at ORR facilities are lifted.  This comes as a 52-year-old Guatemalan immigrant held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, New Jersey, has tested positive.

In Louisiana, asylum seekers held at the Richwood Detention Center have been on hunger strike for at least four days demanding their release as they fear contracting coronavirus.

In Georgia, at least 350 immigrants detained at the for-profit Stewart Detention Center, known for its chronic medical neglect, also held a hunger strike demanding their immediate release.  In audio recordings, detained immigrants describe cramped conditions, poor planning and increasing panic among prisoners.