Cameroonian migrant detainees “tortured by ICE officers, guards and the facility administrator at Adams County Correctional Center”
Immigrant advocates are demanding U.S. immigration officials not deport a group of Black migrants being held at Prairieland Detention Center south of Fort Worth.
Instead, they want federal officials to investigate allegations from eight men who say they were physically abused and threatened while previously detained at Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, Mississippi.
On Oct. 7, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants filed a complaint with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and officials at Department of Homeland Security, including DHS Inspector General.
The complaint alleges that ICE officers, guards and the facility administrator at Adams County Correctional Center “tortured Cameroonian individuals in attempts to coerce them to sign immigration documents through pressure, threats and — in several cases — excessive use of force, including physical abuse and pepper spray, resulting in severe injury.”
Details include detainees’ fingerprints being forcibly taken while handcuffed and the fingers of a man being broken. The men allege that some of these incidents were filmed by guards on site.
The complaint also raises concerns that travel documents for the men “may not be authentic or legally valid.”
Sofia Casini, Director of Advocacy Strategies at Freedom for Immigrants, said the lives of these migrants are at stake if they return to their native Cameroon where there has been ongoing fighting between the French-speaking government and English-speaking minority.
“What’s happened inside of ICE detention is these Cameroonians are being absolutely denied their safety across the board and it’s racism if you’re looking at the approval rates for other countries and Black migrants,” Casini said. “They historically have far lower rates of approval.”
