FARMVILLE, Va. -- Justice Department lawyers are appealing a federal judge’s order that bars them from transferring inmates to a Virginia immigration detention center that experienced a massive coronavirus outbreak.
The Justice Department filed what is known as an interlocutory appeal Tuesday.
The appeal takes jurisdiction over the case from a district judge in Alexandria and puts it in front of the federal appeals court in Richmond.
U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a preliminary injunction in August barring transfers into the Farmville Detention Center.
She took action after 90% of the nearly 300 inmates there tested positive for the coronavirus, and a 72-year-old Canadian detainee died.
