Relatives of gravely ill detainees at two Florida immigration jails have said authorities are about to deport their loved ones to unknown countries in Africa despite worsening medical conditions, according to the advocacy group the Workers Circle, which has been monitoring conditions inside two ICE facilities in south Florida.
Flights are scheduled as early as Wednesday, said Arianne Betancourt, the group's immigrant rights organizer, at a press conference on Tuesday. She said detainees were being pulled into interviews with deportation agents and informed that because of their medical conditions, Mexico would not accept their entry, and they would be sent to Africa. “We know that once they are deported and sent to these third countries, they are not receiving medical care in detention. They have difficulties getting medicine,” Betancourt said.
The affected detainees are at the Krome North processing center in Miami, which a government inspector’s report last month found to be severely overcrowded, and the Broward transitional center in Pompano Beach. Both are privately run on behalf of ICE.
Anisley Cortés, wife of Noslén Sendra, a 41-year-old Cuban national, said her husband had been incarcerated since November, first at the now-closed “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail and at Krome since April. She said he has uncontrolled diabetes and acute pancreatitis that led to a weeks-long hospital stay earlier this year. “He lost over 50 pounds. They wouldn’t give him his medication, and they would not give him enough food,” she said. Cortés added that Cuba will not accept him as a deportee and that Mexico also refuses him because he is so sick. “And so they told him that because he could not be accepted at either of those two countries, ‘Oh well, we’re going to have to send you to Africa.’ … We’re left with the uncertainty of not knowing how he is, or if we’ll see him again.”
Immigration rights attorney Shalyn Fluharty said information from detainees indicated deportation flights were imminent. “We understand that just this week, within a couple of days, likely Thursday and Friday, there will be two flights going to Africa, in particular to the Central African Republic, and we also believe Burundi,” she said. Fluharty described previous deportations where immigrants were shackled at hands, ankles and waists during lengthy flights, and some who complained were placed in full body wraps with no ability to move. “Travel can last sometimes up to 24 hours. What if you’re somebody who has a heart condition? Who has a high risk of stroke? Who is experiencing diabetes and requires regular access to food or insulin?” she asked.
A DHS spokesperson initially demanded the affected detainees’ personal information when asked for comment, and did not respond further when provided with Sendra’s details. Betancourt said families risked retaliation for their relatives by coming forward, noting that the inspector general’s report confirmed a lack of medical care inside the Krome facility.
Advocates say the Trump administration’s second-term immigration crackdown has caused overcrowding that the DHS has attempted to alleviate by ramping up deportation flights to so-called third countries, a practice approved by the US Supreme Court last month. A Human Rights Watch report earlier this month found abusive treatment during and after such flights, including persecution, arbitrary incarceration and torture.
During two unannounced visits to Krome in May, government inspectors found multiple violations, including severe overcrowding: 1,102 detainees in a facility with a maximum capacity of 882. Other violations included an inadequate number of operational toilets, sinks and showers, and previous complaints documented female detainees made to use toilets in full view of men and arriving detainees held for more than 24 hours in a bus in the parking lot.