Thread by @MigrantFreedom

🧵#THREAD

“The abuse we are witnessing, especially right now against black immigrants, isn’t new, but it is escalating," said @ChristinaFialho, executive director of @MigrantFreedom.

#FreeBlackMigrants
#FreeCameroonians
theguardian.com/us-news/2020/o…

"...we began to receive calls on our hotline from Cameroonian and Congolese immigrants detained in [ICE] prisons across the country. And they were being subjected to threats of deportation, often accompanied by physical abuse.”

#FreeBlackMigrants
#FreeCameroonians
#FreeThemAll

Then ICE began transferring these individuals from immigrant prisons around the country into the immigrant prison in Pine Prairie, Louisiana where they were forced to sign fraudulent paperwork to facilitate their deportation to Cameroon and tortured until they acquiesced.

*Trigger Warning* the descriptions of the physical abuse and torture are extremely graphic and disturbing. Please take care before proceeding with this thread or clicking on the links.

On October 7, we @MigrantFreedom, @splcenter, @CamAmerCouncil and others submitted a civil rights complaint to the federal government documenting the abuse and coercion:
freedomforimmigrants.org/torture-deport…

TW: One man, whose name is not revealed for his own protection said, “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"

Cont: “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...they did get my fingerprint on my deportation document and took my picture”

#FreeBlackMigrants

TW: Another man was forced to the ground, sat on, and pepper-sprayed. He said, “The officers told me to open my eyes. I couldn’t. My legs and hands were handcuffed. They forcefully opened my palm. Some of my fingers were broken. They forced my fingerprint on to the paper.”

These illegally obtained, fraudulent documents were the paperwork ICE used to place 88 people on a plane. 60 of the 88 people were from Cameroon, a country that the US government has publicly acknowledged to be dangerous 👇

#FreeCameroonians
foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/re…

Most of the men had already testified that they had suffered "detention without charge and torture at the hands of the Cameroonian military, and had relatives who had been killed"

They were and are still in need of international protection.

#FreeCameroonians #FreeBlackMigrants

On October 13, one of our local affiliates along with @northtexasdream @RAICESTEXAS tried to physically stop ICE from deporting the 88 asylum seekers, as shown in this video where activists and volunteers shout "we love you" to the people trapped inside:

https://twitter.com/MigrantFreedom/status/1316061376259993600?s=20

ICE nonetheless took them to Fort Worth, TX where they boarded a flight operated by @OmniAir, an airline that has already come under scrutiny for facilitating deportations for an exorbitant fee to tax payers, as documented in 2019.
qz.com/1761804/sole-a…

At the 11th hour, 2 of the at least 60 Cameroonians were taken off the plane due to a last minute intervention of human rights advocates.

The remaining were deported to Cameroon where they were immediately taken into custody. 28 Congolese asylum seekers were deported as well.

As @ChristinaFialho has stated, “The US government is deporting key witnesses in an effort to silence survivors & absolve ICE of legal liability.”

#FreeBlackMigrants
#FreeCameroonians
#FreeThemAll

ICE's response to the civil rights complaint was to dismiss it as "unsubstantiated"

It's 11 pages long.

The men provide names & dates. Their stories are credible, and their accounts are corroborated by volunteers from our visitation network who heard the screaming from outside.

We will not let them continue to harm immigrants and get away with it.

We will continue to expose their lies and their abuse.

#FreeBlackMigrants
#FreeThemAll

We will continue to share out updates as we learn more.

In the meantime, follow + support Black immigrant organizations leading the fight to #FreeBlackMigrants

@CamAmerCouncil @UndocuBlack @HaitianBridge @BAJItweet