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Miami, migrants handcuffed and forced to eat kneeling: investigation into ICE prisons

According to The Guardian, migrants in overcrowded facilities run by ICE were treated like animals, denied food, privacy and care

Serious allegations have emerged from prisons run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Florida, where undocumented migrants awaiting deportation were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment. According to a Guardian investigation, dozens of detainees were handcuffed behind their backs and forced to kneel to eat from polystyrene plates, without ever being allowed to stand up, in conditions that have drawn comparisons with the treatment of animals.

The report also denounces extreme overcrowding in the facilities, with migrants crammed into cells for hours without access to food until late in the evening. One detainee said he had to “eat like a dog” while guards and other detainees watched without being able to intervene.

Conditions in ICE centres in South Florida are also said to be critical for female detainees, who are forced to use bathrooms with no privacy under the gaze of guards and male detainees, as well as being denied medical care, showers and adequate food. Some former detainees reported being stuck for over 24 hours in dirty and unsanitary buses, without access to toilets.

Among the facilities in the spotlight is the controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” centre, built in just eight days in the Everglades to deal with the overcrowding emergency. Opened on 3 July, the centre has attracted heavy criticism due to reports of abuse and mistreatment.

According to recent data, more than 56,400 people are held daily in ICE centres, the majority of whom have no criminal record. Former detainees and associations such as Human Rights Watch denounce a worsening of conditions since the Trump administration took office and the new restrictive policies on deportations.

The picture that emerges is one of prison management marked by overcrowding, deprivation and human rights violations, with profound repercussions on the dignity and health of detained migrants.

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