Migrants at Miami detention center allege they were shackled, forced to kneel during meals, ‘We had to eat like animals’

Migrants being held at a Miami ICE detention center have alleged that they were shackled, denied medical care, and forced to eat on their knees.

Migrants held at a Miami immigration detention center said they were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and forced to kneel while eating food from styrofoam plates “like dogs,” according to The Guardian. A recent report, based on interviews with detainees, exposed widespread abuse and overcrowding problems at three ICE facilities in South Florida.

At a Miami immigration detention center, migrants were held in cells for hours without lunch and remained shackled while eating around 7 p.m. (Getty Images via AFP)

At the downtown Miami federal detention center, detainees were reportedly shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and forced to kneel while eating food from styrofoam plates. “We had to eat like animals,” said Pedro, one detainee.

The report detailed how dozens of men were confined to holding cells for hours without lunch until around 7 p.m., remaining shackled while eating.

Similar conditions the Krome North Processing Center

Similar conditions were found at the Krome North Processing Center, where female detainees were forced to use toilets in full view of men and denied appropriate care, including showers and sufficient food. Overcrowding overwhelmed the Krome facility to the point that some detainees spent over 24 hours on a bus in the parking lot, with men and women held together.

One detainee described the conditions, saying, “The bus became disgusting... Because of this, the whole bus smelled strongly of feces.” Upon admission, many detainees spent up to 12 days in cold intake rooms with no bedding or warm clothing.

Haitian woman died at the Broward Transitional Center

At the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, where a 44-year-old Haitian woman died in April, detainees reported repeated denial of adequate medical and psychological care. The report also describes an incident where staff turned off surveillance cameras while a “disturbance control team” used force on detainees protesting lack of medical care, resulting in at least one broken finger.

The overcrowding at these facilities has prompted Florida to rapidly construct a new jail dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” designed to hold up to 5,000 migrants awaiting deportation.

72% of detainees have no criminal history

Nationally, immigration detention numbers averaged about 56,400 per day in mid-June, with nearly 72% of detainees having no criminal history.

Katie Blankenship, immigration attorney and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South, commented on the findings. He said, “ The anti-immigrant escalation and enforcement tactics under the Trump administration are terrorizing communities and ripping families apart, which is especially cruel in the state of Florida, which thrives because of its immigrant communities."

Blankenship added, "The rapid, chaotic, and cruel approach to arresting and locking people up is literally deadly and causing a human rights crisis that will plague this state and the entire country for years to come.”