Torture & Deportation of Black Immigrants
In October 2020, Freedom for Immigrants and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal multi-individual complaint with the Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS’ Office of the Inspector General detailing how ICE officers coerced and tortured eight Cameroonian men into signing stipulated orders of removal. These men were detained at the privately operated Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Mississippi.
“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,” testified a Cameroonian asylum seeker, identified as D.F. in the complaint.
Freedom for Immigrants and the Southern Poverty Law Center along with Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, Cameroonian American Council, Detention Watch Network, Natchez Network, Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Families for Freedom called for a federal investigation into these reports, an immediate stay of deportation for these men, and the release of relevant records and videos about this excessive use of force.
Read a copy of the complaint here.
Complaint result:
In response to our complaint and massive community pressure, the chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus and House Committee on Homeland Security demanded ICE stop the deportation flight and investigate the allegations of torture. Additionally, Representatives Joaquin Castro, Ilhan Omar, and Cedric Richmond condemned the treatment of Cameroonian migrants and asked for documentation in a Congressional letter to ICE on October 13th.
Despite our advocacy, ICE attempted to deport the men from Cameroon on October 14th. Organizers with Freedom for Immigrants’ affiliated visitation program, RAICES, and North Texas Dream Team tried to physically stop the bus transporting the men to their deportation flight.
Thanks to Freedom for Immigrants’ direct advocacy, two of the men in our complaint were pulled off the plane so a federal investigation could go forward. However, the other 6 along with approximately 60 asylum seekers from Cameroon and 28 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were deported. The Cameroonian men were from the country’s English-speaking minority, which has been the target of widespread abuses, including extrajudicial killings, by government security forces seeking to crush a separatist movement. Most of the men on the flight have already been torture at the hands of the Cameroonian military.
We notified the United Nations team in Cameroon to meet the plane. The flight landed in Douala, and Cameroonian authorities refused to allow journalists to cover its arrival. Neither the Cameroonian government nor the U.S. government has provided the public with any information about the flight arrival. It is our understanding that some were detained for questioning on arrival in Douala, but some were freed after their families paid bribes and have since gone into hiding.
We are continuing to push for a federal investigation. We have sent a letter along with 160 organizations and over 20,000 individuals to the Congressional Black Caucus demanding more action.
“The abuse we are witnessing, especially right now against black immigrants, isn’t new, but it is escalating,” said Christina Fialho, executive director of an advocacy group, Freedom for Immigrants (FFI). “The reality is that ICE operates in the shadows. They thrive in secrecy. We know that the US government is deporting key witnesses in an effort to silence survivors and absolve ICE of legal liability.” - The Guardian, October 22, 2020