Black Migrants and Asylum Seekers Tortured and Abused in ICE Facility
ICE Officials Torture Black Migrants and Asylum Seekers at Adams County Correctional Facility
Corroborating reports of abuse and mistreatment of Black Immigrants (predominantly Cameroonians) currently held at Prairieland Detention Center have surfaced. The allegations are multiple accounts of violence, assault, and coercion at Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, Mississippi. In the filed complaint it reads, "The 8 men detained from Cameroon each reported independently a pattern of assaults initiated on Sunday, September 27th and Monday September 28th, 2020 in Adams Correctional Facility."
The reports are horrifying. According to the migrants' interviews, they were subject to brutal assault, violence, and coercion in the forced signing of deportation orders and travel documents. One interviewee reported his fingers were broken during the incident of his forced signature. Every incident mentioned the dorm Zulu, the place as the complaint describes, "which is known amongst the men as a place where those who are punished are taken."
October 7, 2020, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and immigration advocacy organization Freedom for Immigrants filed a Civil Rights complaint several officials of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The complaint cites the held interviews of the asylum seekers and reporting from advocates, as well as the violation of federal laws facing these allegations.
The complain cites the reports of torture, abuse, and coercion which occurred at Adams County Correctional Facility:
Freedom for Immigrants, Southern Poverty Law Center, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, Natchez Network, Detention Watch Network, Cameroon American Council, Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Families for Freedom submit this complaint detailing civil and human rights violations committed against Cameroonian individuals in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), at the Adams County Correctional Center. Specifically, we express serious concern regarding recent reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) officers in Adams County Correctional Center, along with the Facility Administrator and CoreCivic guards, have tortured Cameroonian individuals in their custody in attempts to coerce them to sign immigration documents through pressure, threats and—in several cases—excessive use of force, including physical abuse and pepper spray, resulting in severe injury. This pattern of coercion and unwarranted use of physical force by ICE officers is abusive, unlawful, and tantamount to torture. In addition to the unlawful gain of signatures for deportation documents, we are further concerned that “laissez-passer” travel documents issued to Cameroonians facing deportation may not be authentic or legally valid, given the Cameroonian embassy’s explicit statement to advocates that they have not issued any such documents.
The recommendations made order the 1) immediate investigation into the allegations of torture, 2) halting of deportation, 3) identify why the oversight in the abuse of the black migrants was not reported by the New Orleans Field Office, and 4) make accessible the discovery of material evidence in the incidents cited in the complaint.
The reports are horrifying. One migrant's interview reported:
I said I didn't want to sign a deportation order. I said I am afraid to go back to my country. He promised me he would torture me. Monday, September 28, 2020, he came again while I was outside to try to force me to sign, I refused to sign. He pressed my neck into the floor. I said, “Please, I can’t breathe.” I lost my blood circulation. Then they took me inside with my hands at my back where there were no cameras. After they tortured me then about four CoreCivic Officers and two ICE officers took me to Zulu. They continued to torture me in Zulu. They put me on my knees where they were torturing me and they said they were going to kill me. They took my arm and twisted it. They were putting their feet on my neck.
Again, Zulu is the identified place where the alleged ICE officials and CoreCivic guards torture and force the signing. The reports are unsettling. The egregious acts included the use of pepper spray resulting in the hospitalization of one interviewed migrant identified as "C.A.". Pleading with attorneys one witness said "I came here for safety. I never knew about this inhumane treatment happening here in the USA. Please help me get out. 'I want out of here.'"
Note also, the situation of falsified travel documents. Advocates worry the validity of travel documents issued and used in the removal of the Cameroonians. The flurry of details include a supposed "Pending Honorary consul of Cameroon" named Charles Greene III and the fabrication of "laissez-passer" travel documents instead of valid Cameroonian passports. A representative of the Cameroon embassy in Washington, D.C. alarmed by this said the travel documents issued by Greene are not valid, Charles Greene is not a consul for Cameroon, and Cameroon embassy is only in Washington, D.C. These developments comprise the bewildering element of the apparent situation.
Immigration advocates and attorneys are protesting and acting to halt the deportation of the Black migrants and asylum seekers. For more local coverage on the abuse and mass deportation of Black migrants at Prairieland Correctional Detention Center and elsewhere see this news article.
Understand, there is violent ethnic conflict happening in Cameroon due to the aftermath of the separatist war. That is why the deportation of the Cameroonian asylum seekers who fled seeking asylum in the US from Cameroon are in danger if they are deported back. Their deportation back to their native country will threaten their safety as the conflict between French-speaking majority and English-speaking minority is still tenuous. To read more on the separatist war between Anglo-phone and Franco-phone Cameroon read this article.
Pattern of Abuse and Discrimination against Black immigrants
The incidents which occurred at Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, Mississippi is not isolated or rare. In late August, SLPC and Freedom for Immigrants filed a previous Civil Rights Civil Liberties (CRCL) complaint with DHS about the racist and discriminatory pattern of violence against Black migrants. Here is the press release and the filed complaint. The multi-organization and multi-individual CRCL complaint demands the halt of violence, immediate investigation, and release of confined peaceful hunger strikers and protestors from the ICE prison.
Email and Call to Demand Action
I am a concerned citizen repulsed by the reports of abuse and oppression at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, TX and Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Mississippi. I as well many others demand a stop to the mass deportation of Black migrants and asylum seekers at Prairieland Detention Center because they have been subject to cruel treatment and retaliation in the facilities. The latest being coercive tactics including physical violence and torture as they're forced to sign their own deportation paperwork. The horrendous reports of the mistreatment of Cameroonians and Black Migrants in the facilities warrant Congressional investigation immediately. These immigrants face direct danger if they're deported as well as have been denied their safety and wellbeing inside these ICE correctional facilities. We demand for the stop of the mass deportation and their release NOW due to these facts of coerced documents and torture.
I encourage any and all to call or email. I tried leaving a message to the Congressional Black Caucus however the voicemailbox is full.
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