The United States Department of Immigration and Customs (Ice) has been denounced as a “dishonest agency” after new allegations of assaults against asylum seekers and the continued deportations of African and Caribbean migrants have emerged, defying orders from the Biden government.
Joe Biden unveiled his immigration agenda on Tuesday, and his homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, has been confirmed by the Senate, but continuing deportations have suggested that the Biden White House does not yet have full control over Ice, which faces several allegations. human rights abuses and allegations that disproportionately target black migrants.
A coalition of immigrant rights groups published statements by Cameroonian asylum seekers who, they said, were tortured as they were forced to approve their own deportations. Asylum seekers described that they were forced to lie on the floor and had their fingers tattooed and pressed on deportation documents that they refused to sign.
An Ice plane that deports Cameroonian, Angolan, Congolese and other Africans is expected to leave Louisiana on Wednesday, despite an order from the new Biden government to suspend 100 days of deportation flights.
A judge appointed by Trump in Texas blocked the Biden moratorium last week, approving a challenge from state attorney general Ken Paxton, who played a leading role in trying to overturn the election result.
However, the judge did not block the guidelines established by then-acting secretary of internal security David Pekoske, which took effect on Monday and stipulated that deportations should be limited to suspected terrorists, convicted criminals considered a “security threat. public “, and migrants who arrived after November 1 of last year.
Ice carried out a deportation flight to Haiti on Tuesday morning, carrying people who do not meet any of these criteria. One of the deportees on that flight was Paul Pierrilus, a 40-year-old financial advisor from the state of New York, who had never been to Haiti and is not a Haitian citizen, according to country’s ambassador to Washington. The ambassador, Bocchit Edmond, told activists that he was taken aback by deportation, but did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Pierrilus was removed from a deportation flight on January 19 at the last moment after the intervention of his local congressman, Mondaire Jones. But despite the temporary suspension, he was taken to an ice airfield in Alexandria, Louisiana, on Tuesday morning and loaded onto a plane to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.
“There was nothing we could do to prevent this,” said Jones, the Democratic representative in New York’s 17th district. “Unfortunately, Paul’s story is not uncommon. Black immigrants have been disproportionately targeted and deported by our racist and inhumane immigration system, especially in recent weeks. “
Jones told the Guardian, “Ice is a dishonest agency that must be controlled. There is no world in which an agency under the control of the executive branch leader should continue to deport people after the President of the United States signed an executive order preventing deportations for 100 days. “
There was no response from the National Security Council to questions about any further attempts to prevent flights on the ice. The state department referred the questions to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS did not respond.
On Monday, a coalition of migrant rights groups – Freedom for Immigrants, Al Otro Lado and Advocates for Immigrants Rights – presented new allegations to DHS of what they described as torture by Cameroonian asylum seekers.
One, identified by the initials HT, described being taken to a room with blackened windows on January 14 in Winn’s correctional center, where he was forced by the Ice agents to put his fingerprint on a document instead of a signature, dispensing with it. their rights to additional legal proceedings before deportation.
“I tried to get up because of the strength they were using on me and they made me stumble,” said HT. “I fell on the floor; I kept my hands under my body. I held my hands tightly at the waist so they couldn’t hold them. Five of the Ice officers and one of the officers in green … joined them. They pressured me and said that I needed to give my finger for the fingerprint. “
HT’s statement continued: “While one pressed my neck with his hands, the other came in front of me, pulling my head up, straightening my neck so that they could easily suppress me. One got on my back. I had a lot of trouble breathing. This happened for more than two minutes. I was short of breath. I told them, ‘Please, I can’t breathe.’ I asked them to release me. They said they didn’t care; what they need is my fingerprint. “
An Ice spokesman said it would not be possible to respond to the accusations until late Tuesday. The agency was previously accused of using torture to force prisoners to sign deportation waivers in October.
Most, if not all, Cameroonians on Wednesday’s scheduled flight are English speakers from the west and south of the country, who fear arrest, torture or death on their return amid brutal civil conflict between the government and English-speaking separatists.
Martha, sister of one of the Cameroonian deportees, identified only as NF for security reasons, said they were the only survivors of her family after her brothers were killed by government security forces for belonging to a non-violent organization, the National Council of Southern Cameroon.
“He’s definitely going to be stuck for a long time. I didn’t come home, so I can bribe you out, which is the only way for you to leave, ”said Martha, who arrived in the United States before her brother and was granted asylum.
“That’s why I’m shaking a lot now, because I don’t know what’s going to happen when he’s in jail. There were people who went in the first [Ice deportation] flight in October and they are still in prison. “
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Tuesday: “The ice is accelerating pending flights for many of these asylum seekers who have escaped torture and death in their home countries, only to be sent back to imminent danger without a fair or complete consideration of your asylum applications “.
He added: “This is unacceptable and goes against our values as a nation. The ice should stop these flights immediately. “