Severely ill ICE detainees face imminent deportation to unknown African states, advocates say

Flights to unknown countries in Africa are scheduled as early as Wednesday, relatives detail

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.

“I received a call from several detainees letting me know that men were being pulled in to interviews with deportation agents, where they were being informed that because of their medical conditions, Mexico would not be accepting their entry, and they will be sent to Africa ,” Arianne Betancourt, the group’s immigrant rights organizer, said at a Tuesday night press conference.

“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.”

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.

“He lost over 50 pounds. 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. “He is very sick and needs the right healthcare.

“Cuba will not accept him as a deportee, and we now have proof that Mexico will not accept him as a deportee 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’.

“They told him that Mexico would not accept him because he has too many medications that he requires, and so they said, ‘Well, we have to deport you anyway’. 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.

“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 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.