Relatives of gravely ill detainees at two Florida immigration jails say authorities are about to deport their loved ones to unknown countries in Africa despite worsening medical conditions. Flights are scheduled as early as Wednesday, according to the families and the immigration advocacy group the Workers Circle, which has been monitoring conditions and speaking with detainees inside two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in south Florida. The group said multiple sick detainees with varying conditions have been targeted for imminent deportation, and learned about the operation only in the last few days.
They have difficulties getting medicine.” The affected detainees are at the Krome North processing center in Miami, which was found to be experiencing severe overcrowding by a government inspector’s report last month, and the Broward transitional center in Pompano Beach. Both facilities are privately run on behalf of ICE. Anisley Cortés, the wife of Noslén Sendra, a 41-year-old Cuban national, said her husband has been incarcerated since last 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 resulted in a weeks-long hospital stay earlier this year. They wouldn’t give him his medication, and they would not give him enough food. It was a nightmare of a time for all of us,” she said.
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.” Shalyn Fluharty, an immigration rights attorney, said information from the detainees indicated deportation flights were imminent. Fluharty said previously deported immigrants were shackled at their hands, ankles and waists during lengthy flights, and some who complained were placed in full body wraps with no ability to move.
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?
These conditions take your already vulnerable medical state and make them, unfortunately, often life-threatening.” Responding to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the homeland security department demanded to know the affected detainees’ personal information. The department did not respond further when provided with Sendra’s details. Betancourt said families risked retaliation for their relatives by coming forward.
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