According to a Human Rights Watch report, the three Miami detention facilities are targeted at inhumane people, sometimes in life-threatening conditions.
Big businesses behind Louisiana’s ice detention
Many rural Louisiana communities rely on prison economies, including immigration detention centers, to maintain their livelihoods.
“Like a dog” forced to eat the only meal of the day. Nothing is detained except for shoes for pillows and other bedding. It’s cold and just concrete floors and constant fluorescent lighting. Medical care denied a man with diabetic insulin for a week, contributing to the death of at least one person.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, three Miami immigration detention facilities are sometimes unable to bring them to life as they expose people to the conditions. A report from July 21 shows that many ice detention facilities are overcrowded, causing conditions to deteriorate.
The July 21 report, drawn from the testimony of 17 detainees, examined the conditions since President Donald Trump took office in January. Investigators say that the conditions for the Chrome North Processing Center, the Federal Detention Center and the Broward Transition Center’s epidemic center are international law regarding immigration detention and retaining people on federal standards.
The conditions for those held in detention facilities are “not the way that a legitimate and functioning government should treat people within its custody,” a report from Allison Real Parker, deputy director of the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch.
The facility has more problemsteeth The administration, Parker, said Trump administration officials are trying to adhere to standards to properly treat immigrant detainees. Conditions indicate that the system is “overwhelming, overcrowded and chaotic,” she said.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s spokesperson, said the immigration and customs detention center’s claims of subprime terms are “false.”
“All detainees will receive appropriate diet, treatment and have the opportunity to communicate with their families and attorneys,” McLaughlin said in an emailed statement. “Ensuring the safety, safety and well-being of the individuals under our custody is ICE’s number one priority. ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons that house actual US citizens.”
Republican-led states in the South have emerged as key partners in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Florida has launched a city of tents known as the “Alligator Alcatraz.” Georgia is expanding its largest ice detention center. And Louisiana hosts some of the most dedicated ice facilities in the suburbs of Texas.
Time at all three facilities
56-year-old entrepreneur Harpinder Singh Chauhan spent time at all facilities, nearly four months starting in February.
British citizens first entered the country on an E-2 investor visa in 2016 and opened a small business in Florida. One of them failed – Dickey’s BBQ Pit franchise, and many other franchisees also went bankrupt. He and his wife had sought permanent residency through a valid EB-5 visa petition when their business collapsed.
Chauhan was never convicted of a crime, but he was ordered to pay Florida compensation for tax matters, court records show. In February he was handed over to the ice after a routine probation check-in.
At the Chrome facility, he spent several days without beds or showers in cold, crowded processed cells. He said he was denied medical care, including inhalers for his diabetes and his asthma. He used his shoes as a pillow.
During the outbreak of tuberculosis, he said the facility had no soap. Instead, staff had detainees wash their hands with shampoo. The detainees jokingly said that everyone suffered from plays relating to “chrome disease,” Crohn’s disease and chronic gastrointestinal disease, Chauhan recalls.
Detainees were beaten for protesting their treatment, and one man was hopped, the report said. According to a woman who spoke with Human Rights Watch, authorities also used solitary confinement as punishment. In June, Chrome detainees signaled “SOS” to garden news cameras via conditions.
The woman was placed in Chrome, a private male facility that was crowded with small retention cells without gender-friendly care or privacy. USA Today reported on a similar situation within Chrome. There, a man died.s It may be linked to medical negligence.
Akima, a private Alaska native company that runs Krome, did not respond to USA Today’s request for comment. However, the company said it could not publicly comment on details of its “engagement” with the government in response to a human rights clock letter summarizing the findings and questions.
“Like a dog”
In the middle of his detention on April 15th, Chauhan was placed inside a crowded federal detention center holding cells waiting for a transfer without meals that day. Styrofoam food containers sat full for hours on the other side of the federal prison bar.
In the evening he and the others finally received the food. But as their hands are tied to their waists, they were forced to eat by chewing on potatoes, rice and dried chicken, he said.
“You need to support it on your knees and then eat it like a dog,” Chauhan said. Another 21-year-old detainee interviewed by Human Rights Watch also said he was forced to eat like an animal.
The 25-30 men forced to eat this way were transferred from the facility several hours later, Chauhan said.
Less than a week later, in Broward, Chauhan collapsed in the heat waiting for dinner and was taken to a hospital where his family had no information provided. He had no insulin for almost a week. According to Human Rights Watch and supporters, Marie Ange Blaze, a 44-year-old Haitian woman, passed away at the facility in April.
“I strongly believed that her death had been prevented,” Gearin Joseph, director of the nonprofit Haiti Bridge Alliance, told USA Today at the time. “We continue to request accountability and protection from those who have ice custody.”
Geo Group, which runs Broward, has denied the report’s allegations, including questions about Chauhan’s account.
The facility will have 24-hour access to medical care and access to visits, libraries, translation services and amenities, company spokesman Christopher Ferreira said in a statement. Support services are monitored by ICE, including on-site personnel and other organizations within DHS.
Our “dark times”
Chauhan was deported and boarded a flight to the UK on June 5th. His family stayed in Florida to close the rest of the business, including two adult children.
Chauhan, who currently lives outside of London, said he plans to continue paying Florida’s debts. His family is ready to leave, but he hopes to return to America one day.
“Every country goes through dark times,” he said. “I think this is just a test.”
Lauren Villaglan contributed to this report.
Eduardo Quebus is based in New York City. Contact him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or by signalling emcuevas.01.
