Gravely ill detainees held inside two south Florida immigration facilities are facing imminent deportation to unfamiliar nations across Africa despite their worsening medical conditions, family members and advocacy groups warn.
Scheduled deportation flights could depart as early as Wednesday, according to relatives and the Workers Circle, an immigration advocacy organization monitoring conditions inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers.
Advocates learned of the operation over the last few days, noting that multiple sick detainees with diverse medical needs have been singled out for rapid removal.
Arianne Betancourt, the immigrant rights organizer for the Workers Circle, stated during a Tuesday evening press conference that men were summoned into interviews with deportation agents where they were informed Mexico would refuse entry due to their medical requirements, leaving Africa as their destination. They have difficulties getting medicine.”.
Betancourt emphasized that once individuals are deported to these third countries, they struggle to obtain necessary medication and medical care while in detention.
The impacted individuals are currently held at the Krome North processing center in Miami, which a recent government inspector report cited for severe overcrowding, and the Broward transitional center in Pompano Beach, both operated by private contractors on behalf of ICE.
Anisley Cortés, the wife of 41-year-old Cuban national Noslén Sendra, explained that her husband has been incarcerated since November, previously at the shuttered Alligator Alcatraz immigration jail and at Krome since April, while battling uncontrolled diabetes and acute pancreatitis that caused a lengthy hospital stay earlier this year.
Cortés described his ordeal, noting he shed more than 50 pounds while enduring a lack of adequate food and medication denial during what she called a nightmare period for their family. It was a nightmare of a time for all of us,” she said. “He is very sick and needs the right healthcare.
She added that because Cuba and Mexico both reject his deportation due to his severe medical needs, authorities informed him he would be sent to Africa instead, leaving loved ones uncertain about his safety or future. And so they told him that because he could not be accepted at either of those two countries, ‘Oh well, we’re going to have to send you to Africa.’. Or if we’ll see him again.”, we’re left with the uncertainty of not knowing how he is.
Immigration rights attorney Shalyn Fluharty noted that incoming details point to imminent flights heading to Africa, specifically mentioning the Central African Republic and Burundi later in the week.
Fluharty highlighted that past deportations involved shackling individuals by their hands, ankles, and waist during extended journeys, with some complaining passengers placed into full body wraps that eliminated mobility.
With travel times lasting up to 24 hours, Fluharty cautioned that individuals suffering from heart conditions, stroke risks, or diabetes requiring regular insulin and food access face potentially life-threatening dangers during such flights. Unfortunately, often life-threatening.”, these conditions take your already vulnerable medical state and make them.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security requested personal information regarding the affected detainees when asked for comment, but provided no further response after receiving Sendra’s details.
Betancourt warned that families face potential retaliation for speaking out, emphasizing that this situation is part of a broader pattern rather than an isolated incident.
She noted that the inspector general’s report confirmed internal deficiencies in medical care at Krome, leaving families in constant fear as they advocate for their relatives.
Government inspectors conducted two unannounced visits to Krome in May, uncovering multiple safety and compliance violations, including severe overcrowding where 1,102 detainees were housed in a space built for 882, threatening orderly operations. Holding 1,102 detainees in a facility with a maximum capacity of 882, the report said, “jeopardizes the safe and orderly operations within the facility”.
Additional infractions included broken or insufficient toilets, sinks, and showers, alongside prior complaints involving female detainees forced to use restrooms visible to men and newly arrived individuals kept on a parking lot bus for over 24 hours due to space shortages.
Advocates attribute the widespread detention center overcrowding to the expanded immigration enforcement efforts under Donald Trump’s second term, which the Department of Homeland Security has sought to manage by accelerating deportation flights to third-party nations.
The controversial strategy, endorsed by the US supreme court last month, has resulted in hundreds of removals to at least a dozen African nations where the deportees maintain no personal connections.
A recent Human Rights Watch assessment documented numerous instances of mistreatment during and following these flights, with arrivals subsequently facing persecution, arbitrary detention, and torture.
