The complaint was submitted on behalf of 3 Cameroonian asylum seekers at Winn Correctional Center who were physically assaulted, choked, beaten and handcuffed in attempts to force their signatures.
One of the men has tested positive for COVID and another has been exposed to COVID. All 3 face life-threatening consequences if deported to Cameroon. #FreeThemAll#BlackLivesMatter
Over the course of the past six months, four prior complaints were submitted that corroborate the growing numbers of cases of violence purposefully used to obtain signatures on self-deportation documents.
This morning, we @ Freedom for Immigrants and @DetentionWatch Network delivered a letter to @POTUS on behalf of 217 groups demanding President Biden address COVID-19 inside immigration detention by releasing everyone within the first 100 days #FreeThemAll
Our organization has documented at least
199 instances of retaliation at 49 detention facilities since the onset of the pandemic, underscoring the systemic nature of this abuse. You can follow our up-to-date COVID-19 reporting at freedomforimmigrants.org/covid19
Throughout the pandemic, the average length of detention has increased–meaning that people are trapped in prolonged detention in these lethal conditions. As a result, FY 2020 was the deadliest year in ICE detention since 2005, with 21 reported deaths, eight due to
COVID.
“The abuse we are witnessing, especially right now against black immigrants, isn’t new, but it is escalating," said @ChristinaFialho, executive director of @MigrantFreedom.
"...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.”
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.
DHS itself is confirming what we & other immigrant rights advocates have been documenting since the start of the #COVID19 pandemic: that transfers are deadly & have contributed to #COVID19 outbreaks.
1. Stop inter-facility transfers during the pandemic 2. Stop jail/prison to ICE transfers during the pandemic 3. Require ICE to comply with CDC guidance 4. Require ICE to release people to comply
@JeffMerkley@MichaelBennet At least 7 of the 17 people who have died in ICE custody since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in ICE detention via a transfer from state or federal jails or prisons after completing a criminal sentence or being paroled out.
🧵 #Thread: 6 mo. ago we launched a #COVID19 Hotline to document abuses in ICE prisons. Since then, we’ve received over 10k calls. We just published our latest report analyzing data from the Hotline, attorneys, advocates & media reports.
At least 7 of the 17 people who have died in ICE custody since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in ICE detention via a transfer from state or federal jails or prisons after completing a criminal sentence or being paroled out.
1. Stop inter-facility transfers during the pandemic 2. Stop jail/prison to ICE transfers during the pandemic 3. Require ICE to comply with CDC guidance 4. Require ICE to release people to comply
@JeffMerkley@MichaelBennet Cipriano Chavez-Alvarez, who had lymphoma, diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension, became the 7th person to die of #COVID19 in ICE custody.
As we’ve documented since the beginning of the pandemic, transfers have accelerated the number of #COVID19 cases in detention and have even directly to death #FreeThemAll
1. Stop inter-facility transfers during the pandemic 2. Stop jail/prison to ICE transfers during the pandemic 3. Require ICE to comply with CDC guidance in its facilities, including social distancing 4. Require ICE to release people to comply