Employees at the ICE detention center in Adelanto, California, allegedly gassed detained migrants with a toxic “foul-smelling pink aerosol.” Uncontrolled mass migration may be a national security threat but individual migrants are people. They deserve humane treatment. Just as important, even so called “safe” chemicals are seriously dangerous when misused.
Toxic mist in the food
Back when the COVID pandemic swept everyone into quarantine lock down and Americans began bathing in toxic quantities of hand sanitizer, staff at the Adelanto, California, ICE detention center went crazy with the cleaning chemicals.
Apparently, nobody can read the directions and hazard warnings. If they can, they don’t bother. Disregarding the mixing instructions, the general practice is the basic “glug-glug” pour. That seems to be what happened here and the captive victims could now face a lifetime of misery from the negligent abuse.
Lawyers for the affected migrants say ICE employees saturated the facility with “a foul-smelling pink aerosol.” It’s highly toxic in lower quantities than what were allegedly pumped out.
As the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the United States in early 2020, employees at an Adelanto, Calif., detention center began spraying the facility with a foul-smelling pink aerosol, a lawsuit alleges.https://t.co/6AiR5BBswn
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 27, 2023
Witnesses say workers sprayed the chemicals “as frequently as every 15 to 30 minutes, leaving a strong, chemical smell in the halls and cells.” Migrants relate that “the mist fell on people’s food as they ate and on their beds as they slept.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff incorrectly assured the migrants that “the chemicals were cleaning agents necessary to protect them against the coronavirus and that they were safe.” The migrants demanded to know why, if the chemicals were so safe, they were having “headaches, burning eyes, skin irritation and fainting.” The condition know as “Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT),” also called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and Environmental Illness (EI), is a direct result of excessive exposure to such toxic substances.
Once the condition is activated in those genetically susceptible, there is no way to stop or reverse the ever worsening symptoms. Stephen Paddock was afflicted by TILT. Biomarkers for it were found in a special brain autopsy done by Stanford University. That has been long covered up and swept under the rug by the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit who say they don’t have a clue in their criminal minds as to why he shot up Las Vegas. They know but don’t want you to know.
Poisoned by pink spray
The lawsuit filed on behalf of “seven current and former detainees” names GEO Group, the company operating the detention center.
Plaintiffs allege they were “poisoned” by toxic quantities of whatever spray “pervaded the Adelanto facility.” It’s since been identified as “HDQ Neutral.” That turns out to be some pretty powerful stuff.
According to the EPA, HDQ Neutral is “a powerful disinfectant that the lawsuit claims is known to be toxic and is intended only for use outdoors or in well-ventilated environments.” Detention cells aren’t outdoors or well-ventilated.
#WhyIMarch I have #TILT Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance/ #Migraine. Heat & volatile petrochemical fumes are #neurotoxic #ClimateMarch pic.twitter.com/KBbU71QC6s
— Democracy Over Demagogues (@freeandclear1) April 25, 2017
A corporate spokesperson for GEO Group “denied that the company uses any harmful chemicals as cleaning products.” They say it’s a frame-up smear job “politically motivated and radical campaign to attack ICE’s contractors.”
They can say what they want but plaintiffs have evidence that “between February 2020 and April 2021,” Adelanto workers sprayed “HDQ Neutral into the air and onto all surfaces in the facility — cafeteria tables, telephones, bathrooms, handrails and beds. When they sprayed second-floor railings, they created a mist that fell onto people’s faces, hair and food on the floor below.”
Toxicologists will tell you that’s more than sufficient to trigger a future lifetime of TILT related symptoms. As Washington Post reports, “Hernandez Carrillo, one of the plaintiffs, had HDQ Neutral sprayed into his dormitory at night, according to the lawsuit. He resorted to stuffing a towel under his door and covering his mouth and nose with sheets, the lawsuit alleges. Because the public phones were wet with the chemical, Carrillo had to use napkins to protect his skin when he called his wife.“
