By David K. Li -
NBC News
Anna Sorokin, a Russian citizen who swindled thousands of dollars from friends, hotels and banks by pretending to be heir to a large fortune, has joined a class action lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deny the coronavirus vaccine to inmates in their custody.
Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, and who has inspired the popular Netflix series
Inventing Anna
, claims that she contracted COVID-19 because ICE denied her multiple requests to receive a booster dose of the vaccine, according to the complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The 31-year-old is one of four named plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, DC, against ICE and its acting director, Tae Johnson;
and against the Department of National Security and its secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.
Anna Sorokin on April 25, 2019, at the defense table during jury deliberations at the New York State Supreme Court. Richard Drew / AP
Sorokin said he received a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in April.
He "made multiple requests to receive a booster dose," according to the lawsuit but "never received a response."
[
“Immigration reform has the support of all”: Biden insists that it is a priority but has not managed to fulfill it]
In mid-January, he tested positive for COVID-19, which caused him "fever, persistent cough, nausea, migraines and body aches," according to his lawyers.
Even after coming out of quarantine on Jan. 29, he "continued to experience lingering effects such as fatigue, cough, brain fog, and shortness of breath," according to the civil lawsuit.
"If you move, I'll kill you": the abuse suffered by Venezuelans after being deported from the US
Feb. 21, 202203:37
ACLU attorneys said Sorokin, who is being held at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York, "has several medical conditions that make her vulnerable to serious illness or death," including "an infection chronic kidney disease, as well as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
[USCIS Extends Work Permits for Some Migrants to Two Years to Ease Backlogs That Leave Many Unemployed]
An ICE representative declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday, but said the agency is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on COVID-19.
The CDC recommends booster shots for inmates.
Will it be necessary to receive a second booster of the COVID-19 vaccine?
Feb. 21, 202200:24
In addition to Sorokin, the plaintiffs include Ramón Domínguez González, 32, who is being held at the Imperial Regional Detention Center in Calexico, California;
Miguel Ángel Escalante, 36, at the Florence Correctional Center in Arizona;
and Kenet Jefet Hernández Herrera, 24, who is in the Eloy Detention Center also in Arizona.
The whistleblowers "are more likely than others to suffer serious illness or death from COVID-19"
because they live in tight confinement without backup, their lawyers wrote.
In April 2019, a New York jury found Sorokin guilty of four counts of robbery, three counts of larceny, and one count of attempted larceny.
She was sentenced to between four and 12 years in prison before being released in February of last year and later placed in federal custody for possible deportation.
