Nearly 1,000 U.S. immigration detention centre employees test positive for coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a ICE (Immigrations & Customs Enforcement) federal detention center privately owned and operated by prison contractor CoreCivic, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in San Diego, California, U.S., April 11, 2020. REUTERS/Bing Guan/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than 930 employees of private contractors running U.S. immigration detention centres have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to congressional testimony given by company executives on Monday.

The heads of four companies - CoreCivic , The GEO Group , Management & Training Corp (MTC) and LaSalle Corrections - that detain immigrants on contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reported the infections among employees in response to questions from lawmakers.