Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post stated Colorado Governor Polis walked back his statement that incarcerated people shouldn’t be prioritized for vaccination. The governor did no such thing and the post has been updated to reflect this. We continue to urge the governor to reconsider and protect the rights of everyone in his state, including the incarcerated.

Governor Jared Polis of Colorado — otherwise a trailblazer when it comes to criminal legal reform — recently said, “There’s no way [the COVID-19 vaccine] is going to go to prisoners before it goes to the people who haven’t committed any crime.” Governor Polis’ instinct to throw incarcerated people under the bus is sadly typical, and we shouldn’t allow sentiments like that to poison the national discussion around vaccine access and distribution.

Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a COVID-19 vaccine, the critical question for lawmakers — who should get the vaccine first — is still roiling. As with anything important, the devil is in the details. And in this instance, the details can determine life or death for thousands of incarcerated individuals.

Protecting them is a matter of science, law, and basic humanity.

Let’s start with science. Carceral settings have consistently been listed among the top coronavirus hotspots and the source of much suffering and death because they are too crowded and unhygienic to allow for social distancing. The death rate in prisons has been three times that of the general population. The infection rate of COVID-19 among those in immigration detention between May and August was 13 times higher than that of the general the rate of the U.S. population.

Individuals living in carceral settings also have higher rates of disability and chronic health issues that heighten their risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19. As just one illustration, public health experts note that incarcerated people should be treated as though they are 10 to 15 years older than their biological age. These vulnerabilities are due in part to the physical stress and strain imposed by their imprisonment. Prior to COVID-19, these facilities already denied detainees access to adequate nutrition, health care, hygienic supplies, and fresh air — a situation worsened by a woefully harmful and inadequate response to the pandemic.

Prison, jail, and detention administrators have consistently failed to take the necessary steps to prevent outbreaks that endanger both the people inside and outside their facilities, as the virus does not stop at the prison walls. Staff and contractors churn in and out constantly, allowing the virus to spread both within the facility and in the broader community. As a result, dozens of public health experts have supported lawsuits and advocacy by the ACLU and other organizations to increase protective measures and significantly reduce incarcerated populations. Just last week we won an order to cut the Orange County jail population in half, because social distancing was impossible without it. The science-driven arguments apply equally to vaccine distribution: The faster we get vaccines into detention settings, the faster we can protect everyone, both inside and out.

The law also supports the science. The Constitution protects individuals who are incarcerated and therefore unable to protect themselves. To that end, government officials must take reasonable efforts to protect those in their custody from becoming infected with COVID-19. Nothing is more reasonable than vaccinating the most vulnerable populations first, wherever they live. The fact that incarcerated people may be fighting for asylum, or have been convicted or accused of a crime, is irrelevantto the analysis here, and it should be.Now more than ever, federal and state officials must honor their oaths to these constitutional principles. Lives are at stake.

Finally, this is about basic humanity. COVID-19 has disproportionately decimated the poor, the medically vulnerable, people with disabilities, and Black and Brown communities, including immigrants. Many people fall into several of these categories at once, and far too many find themselves incarcerated — often because of this country’s legacy of systemic racism. Already at increased risk of infection, many are also at the mercy of their government to protect them. And, so far, governments have largely failed.

But because of ACLU litigation and advocacy, criminal defendants now have the right to remain silent and the right to a court-appointed attorney. We fought the racist war on drugs in the 1980s and have never stopped. We are ending the caging of migrant children nationwide. Our work since March protecting the nation’s most vulnerable from COVID-19 is a continuation of this legacy. Today, we are proud to say that people in prisons, jails, and immigration detention — along with people with disabilities and seniors in congregate settings, communities of color, and other vulnerable groups who have been most impacted by the pandemic — should be a first-tier priority for the COVID-19 vaccine. And if officials fail to prioritize incarcerated individuals for the vaccine, we will do what we do best: We will take those officials to court.

President Trump’s relentless destruction of our immigration system is well documented. However, the myriad ways in which he attacked and targeted Black and Brown people seeking immigration benefits or citizenship, and even U.S. citizens is less discussed. 
 
There have been three substantial attacks on citizenship for Black and Brown immigrants:

1. Indefinite delays of immigration benefits, including citizenship, through the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP), which has targeted Muslims and people from Muslim-majority countries since 2008;
2. Blocking the expedited path to citizenship for non-citizen U.S. military members; and 
3. Escalated denaturalization efforts, including passport revocation. 

President-elect Biden must eliminate these barriers and attacks on citizenship immediately.

CARRP is an egregious program that prevents thousands of eligible individuals and their families from obtaining immigration benefits, including citizenship. This program prohibits the approval of applications for naturalization, green cards, asylum, refugee status, and many other immigration benefits to anyone USCIS flags as a possible “national security concern,” regardless of an individual’s eligibility for the benefit. CARRP — which was never approved by Congress — profiles immigrants from predominantly Muslim-majority countries as “concerns” based on national origin and derails their applications indefinitely. This “concern” may be based upon mere suspicion and subjective criteria such as national origin, associations, professions, and viewpoints, including trips to their country of birth or origin, or even their retweets on social media. Applicants are never informed of the issue or able to respond — a blatant violation of fundamental fairness and due process. 
 
Since CARRP began, tens of thousands of applications have been denied or delayed for years, leaving many unable to naturalize. From 2008 to 2016, USCIS reported CARRP’s use in over 41,800 immigration applications, with people from India, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen as the top five countries of origin impacted. This program disproportionately affects Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, such as Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian people. In fact, most people subjected to this program are from Muslim-majority countries. Others, including applicants from China, report being treated as suspicious, particularly during times of political or diplomatic tension.
 
Biden must end CARRP, institute uniform standards for all applicants, and return all applications stalled in CARRP to the normal process, so that Muslims and other applicants have access to immigration benefits under his presidency. 

For more than 200 years, Congress has incentivized non-citizens to join the military by rewarding them with an expedited path to citizenship. Citizenship is not just a valuable recruitment tool; it is a moral imperative embedded in our history, values, and laws. The Trump administration attempted to destroy that imperative by preventing the enlistment of non-citizens and thwarting their naturalization and access to rights and privileges that accompany U.S. citizenship.
 
The Department of Defense (DoD) introduced policy changes impeding immigrants from enlisting and naturalizing expeditiously. It also eliminated the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program, through which non-citizens with critical medical or linguistic skills, including DACA recipients, could enlist and earn their citizenship. In addition, the administration ended USCIS’ Naturalization at Basic Training Initiative, which facilitated new recruits’ naturalization during basic training, and closed naturalization centers at basic training locations. Under Trump, numerous overseas USCIS offices used by military service members closed, and USCIS refused to process applications of deported veterans eligible for naturalization.
 
As a result of Trump’s policies, tens of thousands of service members were stuck in limbo: unable to ship to basic training, be deployed, or start their assignment; unable to begin their naturalization process; uncertain of their future in the country they swore to defend. From fiscal year 2017 to 2018, the number of military naturalization applications dropped 72 percent. Simultaneously, the rate of USCIS denials of military naturalization applications rose from 7 to 20 percent. 
 
It is critical that the Biden-Harris administration restore access to citizenship for military members by rescinding these DoD policies, restoring MAVNI, suspending deportation of service members and veterans, and returning to policies that honor and reward service.

Historically, denaturalization occurred rarely and was an extraordinary measure used against human rights violators. The Trump administration, however, targeted people for denaturalization at an escalating rate, discarding long-standing legal norms and protections. It expanded these efforts within agencies, opening new denaturalization offices within the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, and effectively stripped people of citizenship as the State Department denied and revoked U.S. passports.
 
Civil denaturalization, a tool rarely used before — with no statute of limitations, no right to appointed counsel, and a lesser burden of proof than criminal proceedings — skyrocketed under the Trump administration, with filings three times higher than the yearly average of the last eight administrations. People from Bangladesh, India, Haiti, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan have been targeted at high rates for civil denaturalization, indicating a pattern consistent with the administration’s fear-based narrative against Black and Brown people. Criminal denaturalizations also rose to an average of 51 per year.
 
It is critical that the Biden administration suspend these denaturalization efforts pending further evaluation, put in place priorities and limitations on denaturalization, and eliminate the offices and additional infrastructure created by Trump. Biden must ensure that all U.S. citizens are equal under the law and able to act on their rights and responsibilities without fear. 

These attacks by the Trump administration are a clear attempt to prevent immigrants from becoming citizens and strip U.S. citizens of their status, thereby ensuring the associated rights, including voting, are inaccessible to Black and Brown people. President-elect Biden must restore access to our existing immigration system for all people — regardless of race or religion. Black and Brown people seeking immigration benefits, to serve our country, or to live their lives as U.S. citizens cannot wait any longer. None of us can.

People with disabilities face enormous barriers in the United States today — from a pandemic that is killing disabled people, especially those in institutions, at staggering rates; to schools that too often fail, traumatize, and criminalize students with disabilities; to a criminal legal system that unnecessarily targets, incarcerates, and kills Black and Brown people with mental disabilities. The administration must make disability rights a priority from day one, with a commitment to addressing head-on these harms and the intersection of discrimination and marginalization around disability, race, and poverty.

Here are just a few of the many items that should top the Biden-Harris administration’s to-do list:

Ensure that people with disabilities can live in their communities, not in institutions, and support the direct care workforce:

• People with disabilities have a right to live in the community as independently as possible, and to receive necessary services and support in their homes. But for  many people with disabilities, especially people of color, that right is far from a reality as they are segregated in institutions like nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, and psychiatric facilities — even though they could live in integrated community settings with appropriate supports. As COVID-19 ravages congregate care settings, killing people who live in these institutions at extraordinary rates, the dangers of living in institutions have been laid bare. The incoming Biden-Harris administration must implement a national strategy to expand access to Medicaid’s home and community based services (HCBS). HCBS funds the in-home support and services that let people with disabilities live safely in their communities. Long waiting lists for HCBS hinder many disabled people’s goals of getting out of institutions and living self-directed lives. The administration must end the long waiting lists for HCBS by providing more funding for these services, and must increase enforcement of laws that prohibit the unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities in institutions.
• Along with eliminating HCBS waiting lists, the new administration must also push Congress to reauthorize and fully fund the Money Follows the Person program, which assists states to provide services and supports to disabled people in their communities. Money Follows the Person is critical for ensuring that people with disabilities can live self-directed, integrated, safe lives in their communities.
• The administration must work with Congress to ensure that the safety and needs of the direct care workforce (e.g., home care workers, direct support professionals, residential care workers, nursing assistants) that provides services and supports to people with disabilities are prioritized during and after the pandemic. These workers, who are overwhelmingly women and disproportionately women of color, have labored in the shadows for far too long and must have access to PPE, sick leave, hazard pay, and other workplace protections.

Stop law enforcement’s disproportionate targeting of people with mental health disabilities, and the entrapment of people with disabilities in the criminal legal system:

• As the recent killings of Walter Wallace Jr. and too many others have made clear, urgent action is needed to end the overreliance on police response to mental health crises that leave far too many Black and Brown disabled people injured, traumatized, or dead. The administration must encourage federal support for robust community-based programs that provide mental health professionals and peer supports — rather than law enforcement — to respond to mental health crises. 
• Even if people with disabilities survive an initial encounter with police, the criminal legal system is stacked against them at every stage. Pretrial release, supervision, jails, and prisons all impose burdensome requirements that pose special challenges for many people with disabilities. People with disabilities are excluded from classes and programs in incarceration and find themselves unable to break free from the criminal legal system, which fails to take disability into account. The incoming administration must champion changes to the criminal legal system that reduce incarceration rates nationwide, lessen the risk of harm to people with disabilities, and provide the accommodations disabled people need to avoid incarceration and live safe, productive lives free of the criminal legal system.

Ensure that students with disabilities have access to effective and safe education:

• Now more than ever, the administration needs to make sure that states and school districts continue to meet their obligation to provide appropriate educational services and assessments to students with disabilities. This includes helping them make up for instructional time and services lost during distance learning and school closures due to COVID-19. To support students with disabilities who have been left behind during the pandemic, the administration must make targeted Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding a priority for the next congressional COVID-19 relief package. The Department of Education must also provide robust guidance that highlights best practices that school districts have adopted during the pandemic and ensures students with disabilities are not unnecessarily pushed into alternative schools during the pandemic.  
• The administration also must stop the unnecessary and harmful restraint and seclusion of students with disabilities in schools by executive action and supporting appropriate legislation. Mechanical or physical restraints harm children and inflict lasting psychological trauma, yet their use still happens far too often in schools. Action is needed now to end these draconian practices and ensure that our schools are places where children feel safe to learn.
• The overuse of police, known as school resource officers, in our nation’s schools disproportionately harms students of color with disabilities, criminalizes normal childhood behavior, and funnels students into the school-to-prison pipeline. The administration must take executive action and pursue legislative opportunities to eliminate federal funding that puts police in schools and reinvest those funds to hire school counselors, psychologists, and other supportive mental health personnel for our students. The administration must also investigate school districts where the data show disproportionate rates of law enforcement referrals and arrests for students with disabilities, and hold those school districts accountable.