HOUSTON – A detained immigrant who said he tested positive for COVID-19 was required to call in for a court hearing even after a guard said he was too weak to talk, his attorney said.
When the judge asked Salomon Diego Alonzo to say his name Thursday, the guard responded that Alonzo “does not have the lung capacity,” according to his lawyer, Veronica Semino, who was listening by phone.
The call lasted about two hours, though Judge Mary Baumgarten eventually agreed to delay Alonzo's final asylum hearing, the attorney said.
Alonzo was hospitalized later that day, Semino said, and by Friday, she had not received an update on his condition. The jail where he was detained went from two confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday to 20 by Friday