According to reports, detainees were threatened, choked, beaten, and pepper-sprayed unless they agreed to be sent back.
ICE officers also forced detainees to submit to fingerprinting in lieu of signatures.
Lawyers and human rights advocates are noting increases in deportations they attribute to the Trump administration's realization it stands a good chance of losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.
Advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) executive director, Christina Fialho, explained:
"The abuse we are witnessing, especially right now against black immigrants, isn't new, but it is escalating. In late September, early October of this year, we began to receive calls on our hotline from Cameroonian and Congolese immigrants detained in ICE prisons across the country. And they were being subjected to threats of deportation, often accompanied by physical abuse. The reality is that ICE operates in the shadows. They thrive in secrecy. We know that the US government is deporting key witnesses in an effort to silence survivors and absolve ICE of legal liability."
FFI filed a complaint along with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) citing eight instances of forced signatures or fingerprints.
One prisoner, "BJ," stated that last month:
"[ICE officers] pepper-sprayed me in the eyes and [one officer] strangled me almost to the point of death. I kept telling him, 'I can't breathe.' I almost died. As a result of the physical violence, they were able to forcibly obtain my fingerprint on the document."
"DF" added:
"I refused to sign. He pressed my neck into the floor. I said, 'Please, I can't breathe.' I lost my blood circulation. Then they took me inside with my hands at my back where there were no cameras. They put me on my knees where they were torturing me and they said they were going to kill me. They took my arm and twisted it. They were putting their feet on my neck. While in Zulu [Adams County Detention Center], they did get my fingerprint on my deportation document and took my picture."
"CA" said he was forced to the ground, sat on, handcuffed, and pepper-sprayed.
He reported:
"I was crying, 'I can't breathe,' because they were forcefully on top of me pressing their body weight on top of me. My eyes were so hot...I was dragged across the ground. The officers told me to open my eyes. I couldn't. My legs and hands were handcuffed. They forcefully opened my palm. Some of my fingers were broken. They forced my fingerprint on to the paper."
Donald Trump built his campaign, and now his presidency, on those "rapists," "murderers," and "animals" "invading" our country from the Southern border.
He accused Haitian immigrants residing here under temporary protected status as having AIDS.
He claimed 40,000 Nigerians would never "go back to their huts" after coming here.
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