Immigration judges, ICE attorneys, and experts are calling on the Trump administration to close the courts to stop the novel coronavirus from spreading

Getty Images/John Moore

• Judges are demanding the immediate closure of immigration courts over coronavirus fears.
• A union representing ICE attorneys says a lawyer in Atlanta was diagnosed with COVID-19 after appearing in court on Monday.
• An immigration attorney in Georgia described to Business Insider unsafe conditions that violate CDC guidelines.
• Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said closing immigration courts is the type of 'extreme social distancing' necessary to stop the spread of the disease.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

An Atlanta attorney who was in immigration court on Monday just self-reported a positive test of COVID-19, and an immigration judge in Denver is out sick with symptoms of the novel coronavirus. But the Trump administration — and, namely, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the United States' 68 immigration courts — is thus far resisting demands to shutter the courtrooms.

"The scientific evidence-based opinion of public health experts can only lead to one conclusion," said Judge Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, "and that is to immediately and temporarily close all the immigration courts nationwide."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: A law professor weighs in on how Trump could beat impeachment

See Also: