Latest news with #Ice
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Irish tourist jailed by Ice for months after overstaying US visit by three days: ‘Nobody is safe'
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days. He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody. From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was being held – or when he'd get out. Related: Farm worker who died after California Ice raid was 'hardworking and innocent', family says 'Nobody is safe from the system if they get pulled into it,' said Thomas, in a recent interview from his home in Ireland, a few months after his release. Thomas asked to be identified by a nickname out of fear of facing further consequences with US immigration authorities. Despite immediately agreeing to deportation when he was first arrested, Thomas remained in Ice detention after Donald Trump took office and dramatically ramped up immigration arrests. Amid increased overcrowding in detention, Thomas was forced to spend part of his time in custody in a federal prison for criminal defendants, even though he was being held on an immigration violation. Thomas was sent back to Ireland in March and was told he was banned from entering the US for 10 years. Thomas's ordeal follows a rise in reports of tourists and visitors with valid visas being detained by Ice, including from Australia, Germany, Canada and the UK. In April, an Irish woman who is a US green card holder was also detained by Ice for 17 days due to a nearly two-decade-old criminal record. The arrests appear to be part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration, which has pushed to deport students with alleged ties to pro-Palestinian protests; sent detainees to Guantánamo Bay and an El Salvador prison without presenting evidence of criminality; deported people to South Sudan, a war-torn country where the deportees had no ties; and escalated large-scale, militarized raids across the US. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Thomas detailed his ordeal and the brutal conditions he witnessed in detention that advocates say have long plagued undocumented people and become worse under Trump. Thomas, an engineer at a tech firm, had never had any problems visiting the US under the visa waiver program. He had initially planned to return home in October, but badly tore his calf, suffered severe swelling and was having trouble walking, he said. A doctor ordered him not to travel for eight to 12 weeks due to the risk of blood clots, which, he said, meant he had to stay slightly past 8 December, when his authorization expired. He obtained paperwork from his physician and contacted the Irish and US embassies and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to seek an extension, but it was short notice and he did not hear back, he said. 'I did everything I could with the online tools available to notify the authorities that this was happening,' he said, explaining that by the time his deadline to leave the US had approached, he was nearly healed and planning to soon return. 'I thought they would understand because I had the correct paperwork. It was just a couple of days for medical reasons.' He might have avoided immigration consequences, if it weren't for an ill-timed law enforcement encounter. Thomas and his girlfriend, Malone, were visiting her family in Savannah, Georgia, when Thomas suffered a mental health episode, he and Malone recalled. The two had a conflict in their hotel room and someone overheard it and called the police, they said. Malone, who requested to use her middle name to protect her boyfriend's identity, said she was hoping officers would get him treatment and did not want to see him face criminal charges. But police took him to jail, accusing him of 'falsely imprisoning' his girlfriend in the hotel room, a charge Malone said she did not support. He was soon released on bond, but instead of walking free, was picked up by US immigration authorities, who transported him 100 miles away to an Ice processing center in Folkston, Georgia. The facility is operated by the private prison company Geo Group on behalf of Ice, with capacity to hold more than 1,000 people. Thomas was given a two-page removal order, which said he had remained in the US three days past his authorization and contained no further allegations. On 17 December, he signed a form agreeing to be removed. But despite signing the form he remained at Folkston, unable to get answers about why Ice wasn't deporting him or how long he would remain in custody. David Cheng, an attorney who represented Thomas, said he requested that Ice release him with an agreement that he'd return to Ireland as planned, but Ice refused. At one point at Folkston, after a fight broke out, officers placed detainees on lockdown for about five days, cutting them off from contacting their families, he said. Thomas said he and others only got approximately one hour of outdoor time each week. I did everything I could … to notify the authorities that this was happening Thomas In mid-February, after about two months in detention, officers placed him and nearly 50 other detainees in a holding cell, preparing to move them, he said: 'I thought I was finally going home.' He called his family to tell them the news. Instead, he and the others were shackled around their wrists, waists and legs and transported four hours to a federal correctional institution in Atlanta, a prison run by the US Bureau of Prisons (BoP), he said. BoP houses criminal defendants on federal charges, but the Trump administration, as part of its efforts to expand Ice detention, has been increasingly placing immigrants into BoP facilities – a move that advocates say has led to chaos, overcrowding and violations of detainees' rights. Thomas said the conditions and treatment by BoP were worse than Ice detention: 'They were not prepared for us whatsoever.' He and other detainees were placed in an area with dirty mattresses, cockroaches and mice, where some bunkbeds lacked ladders, forcing people to climb to the top bed, he said. BoP didn't seem to have enough clothes, said Thomas, who got a jumpsuit but no shirt. The facility also gave him a pair of used, ripped underwear with brown stains. Some jumpsuits appeared to have bloodstains and holes, he added. Each detainee was given one toilet paper roll a week. He shared a cell with another detainee, and he said they were only able to flush the toilet three times an hour. He was often freezing and was given only a thin blanket. The food was 'disgusting slop', including some kind of mysterious meat that at times appeared to have chunks of bones and other inedible items mixed in, he said. He was frequently hungry. 'The staff didn't know why we were there and they were treating us exactly as they would treat BoP prisoners, and they told us that,' Thomas said. 'We were treated less than human.' He and others requested medical visits, but were never seen by physicians, he said: 'I heard people crying for doctors, saying they couldn't breathe, and staff would just say, 'Well, I'm not a doctor,' and walk away.' He did eventually receive the psychiatric medication he requested, but staff would throw his pill under his cell door, and he'd sometimes have to search the floor to find it. Detainees, he said, were given recreation time in an enclosure that was partially open to fresh air, but resembled an indoor cage: 'You couldn't see the outside whatsoever. I didn't see the sky for weeks.' He had sciatica from an earlier hip injury and said he began experiencing 'unbearable' nerve pain as a result of the lack of movement. Thomas said it seemed Ice's placements in the BoP facility were arbitrary and poorly planned. Of the nearly 50 people taken from Ice to BoP facility, about 30 of them were transferred back to Folkston a week later, and the following week, two from that group were once again returned to the BoP facility, he said. In the BoP facility, he said, Ice representatives would show up once a week to talk to detainees. Detainees would crowd around Ice officials and beg for case updates or help. Ice officers spoke Spanish and English, but Middle Eastern and North African detainees who spoke neither were stuck in a state on confusion. 'It was pandemonium,' Thomas said. It seems like a completely incomprehensible, punitive detention Sirine Shebaya Thomas said he saw a BoP guard tear up 'watching the desperation of the people trying to talk to Ice and find out what was happening', and that this officer tried to assist people as best as she could. Thomas and Malone tried to help asylum seekers and others he met at the BoP facility by connecting them to advocates. Thomas was also unable to speak to his children, because there was no way to make international calls. 'I don't know how I made it through,' he said. In mid-March, Thomas was briefly transferred again to a different Ice facility. The authorities did not explain what had changed, but two armed federal officers then escorted him on a flight back to Ireland. The DHS and Ice did not respond to inquiries, and a spokesperson for the Geo Group declined to comment. Donald Murphy, a BoP spokesperson, confirmed that Thomas had been in the bureau's custody, but did not comment about his case or conditions at the Atlanta facility. The BoP is now housing Ice detainees in eight of its prisons and would 'continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfill the administration's policy objectives', Murphy added. It's unclear why Thomas was jailed for so long for a minor immigration violation. 'It seems completely outlandish that they would detain someone for three months because he overstayed a visa for a medical reason,' said Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project, who is not involved in his case and was provided a summary by the Guardian. 'It is such a waste of time and money at a time when we're hearing constantly about how the government wants to cut expenses. It seems like a completely incomprehensible, punitive detention.' Ice, she added, was 'creating its own crisis of overcrowding'. Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, senior policy counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, also not involved in the case, said, in general, it was not uncommon for someone to remain in immigration custody even after they've accepted a removal order and that she has had European clients shocked to learn they can face serious consequences for briefly overstaying a visa. Ice, however, had discretion to release Thomas with an agreement that he'd return home instead of keeping him indefinitely detained, she said. The Trump administration, she added, has defaulted to keeping people detained without weighing individual factors of their cases: 'Now it's just, do we have a bed?' Republican lawmakers in Georgia last year also passed state legislation requiring police to alert immigration authorities when an undocumented person is arrested, which could have played a role in Thomas being flagged to Ice, said Samantha Hamilton, staff attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, a non-profit group that advocates for immigrants' rights. She met Thomas on a legal visit at the BoP Atlanta facility. Hamilton said she was particularly concerned about immigrants of color who are racially profiled and pulled over by police, but Thomas's ordeal was a reminder that so many people are vulnerable. 'The mass detentions are terrifying and it makes me afraid for everyone,' she said. Thomas had previously traveled to the US frequently for work, but now questions if he'll ever be allowed to return. 'This will be a lifelong burden,' he said. Malone, his girlfriend, said she plans to move to Ireland to live with him. 'It's not an option for him to come here and I don't want to be in America anymore,' she said. Since his return, Thomas said he has had a hard time sleeping and processing what happened: 'I'll never forget it, and it'll be a long time before I'll be able to even start to unpack everything I went through. It still doesn't feel real. When I think about it, it's like a movie I'm watching.' He said he has also struggled with long-term health problems that he attributes to malnutrition and inappropriate medications he was given while detained. He was shaken by reports of people sent away without due process. 'I wouldn't have been surprised if I ended up at Guantánamo Bay or El Salvador, because it was so disorganized,' he said. 'I was just at the mercy of the federal government.'
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration seeks to end bond hearings for immigrants without legal status
The Trump administration is reportedly seeking to bar millions of immigrants who allegedly arrived in the US without legal status from receiving a bond hearing as they try to fight their deportations in court. The new policy would apply during removal proceedings, which can take years, for millions of immigrants who entered the country from Mexico in recent decades, according to a report from the Washington Post, which reviewed documents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Such immigrants had previously been allowed to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge, but Todd Lyons, Ice's acting director, stated in a memo reviewed by the Post that the homeland security and justice departments had 'revisited [their] legal position on detention and release authorities'. The departments determined that such immigrants 'may not be released from Ice custody', Lyons reportedly wrote in the memo. Related: Trump's tax bill funds $6bn expansion of US-Mexico border surveillance, report finds That new restriction, which is expected to face legal challenges, was issued on 8 July shortly after the Republican-controlled Congress provided Ice $45bn over the next four years to detain immigrants for civil deportation proceedings. 'To be clear, [Ice's] position here is laughable and is being rejected by immigration judges all over the US, and will soon be dismissed by actual federal court judges in habeas proceedings,' Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney and Emory University law professor, wrote on X in a post that alluded to challenges against one's detention. The policy change would mark the latest significant departure for Ice, which during Joe Biden's presidency provided a guide on how immigrants who are detained can post bond. 'Judges see a lot of people every day,' the guide stated. 'You can make your testimony stand out by speaking sincerely. Think about a story that will show the judge how much your family needs you. Explain to the judge why your detention hurts your family very much. 'We hope that this guide provides you with helpful information when preparing for your bond hearing. We wish you the best of luck with your case!' The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reducing immigration, defended the new reported policy. 'Detention is absolutely the best way to approach this, if you can do it,' Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Post. 'It costs a lot of money, obviously. 'You're pretty much guaranteed to be able to remove the person, if there's a negative finding, if … [they're] in detention.' The Trump administration had already worked to limit which immigrants can post bond. Previously, people arrested after they had entered the US and placed in regular removal proceedings were eligible for a bond hearing, according to the National Immigration Project, a non-profit whose attorneys have defended immigrants facing deportation. But in May, the federal Board of Immigration Appeals issued a ruling stating that such people were subject to mandatory detention, meaning that Ice could jail them during removal proceedings and not provide them an opportunity to appear before an immigration judge and get a bond set. Ice did not immediately respond to the Guardian's request for comment on the reported new policy.
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump administration seeks to end bond hearings for immigrants without legal status
The Trump administration is reportedly seeking to bar millions of immigrants who allegedly arrived in the US without legal status from receiving a bond hearing as they try to fight their deportations in court. The new policy would apply during removal proceedings, which can take years, for millions of immigrants who entered the country from Mexico in recent decades, according to a report from the Washington Post, which reviewed documents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Such immigrants had previously been allowed to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge, but Todd Lyons, Ice's acting director, stated in a memo reviewed by the Post that the homeland security and justice departments had 'revisited [their] legal position on detention and release authorities'. The departments determined that such immigrants 'may not be released from Ice custody', Lyons reportedly wrote in the memo. That new restriction, which is expected to face legal challenges, was issued on 8 July shortly after the Republican-controlled Congress provided Ice $45bn over the next four years to detain immigrants for civil deportation proceedings. 'To be clear, [Ice's] position here is laughable and is being rejected by immigration judges all over the US, and will soon be dismissed by actual federal court judges in habeas proceedings,' Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney and Emory University law professor, wrote on X in a post that alluded to challenges against one's detention. The policy change would mark the latest significant departure for Ice, which during Joe Biden's presidency provided a guide on how immigrants who are detained can post bond. 'Judges see a lot of people every day,' the guide stated. 'You can make your testimony stand out by speaking sincerely. Think about a story that will show the judge how much your family needs you. Explain to the judge why your detention hurts your family very much. 'We hope that this guide provides you with helpful information when preparing for your bond hearing. We wish you the best of luck with your case!' The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reducing immigration, defended the new reported policy. 'Detention is absolutely the best way to approach this, if you can do it,' Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Post. 'It costs a lot of money, obviously. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'You're pretty much guaranteed to be able to remove the person, if there's a negative finding, if … [they're] in detention.' The Trump administration had already worked to limit which immigrants can post bond. Previously, people arrested after they had entered the US and placed in regular removal proceedings were eligible for a bond hearing, according to the National Immigration Project, a non-profit whose attorneys have defended immigrants facing deportation. But in May, the federal Board of Immigration Appeals issued a ruling stating that such people were subject to mandatory detention, meaning that Ice could jail them during removal proceedings and not provide them an opportunity to appear before an immigration judge and get a bond set. Ice did not immediately respond to the Guardian's request for comment on the reported new policy.
Irish Examiner
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Irish tourist jailed by Ice for months after overstaying US visit by three days: ‘Nobody is safe'
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorised to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days. He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody. From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was being held – or when he'd get out. 'Nobody is safe from the system if they get pulled into it,' said Thomas, in a recent interview from his home in Ireland, a few months after his release. Thomas asked to be identified by a nickname out of fear of facing further consequences with US immigration authorities. Despite immediately agreeing to deportation when he was first arrested, Thomas remained in Ice detention after Donald Trump took office and dramatically ramped up immigration arrests. Amid increased overcrowding in detention, Thomas was forced to spend part of his time in custody in a federal prison for criminal defendants, even though he was being held on an immigration violation. Thomas was sent back to Ireland in March and was told he was banned from entering the US for 10 years. Thomas's ordeal follows a rise in reports of tourists and visitors with valid visas being detained by Ice, including from Australia, Germany, Canada and the UK. In April, Irish woman Cliona Ward, who is a US green card holder, was also detained by Ice for 17 days due to a nearly two-decade-old criminal record. The arrests appear to be part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration, which has pushed to deport students with alleged ties to pro-Palestinian protests; sent detainees to Guantánamo Bay and an El Salvador prison without presenting evidence of criminality; deported people to South Sudan, a war-torn country where the deportees had no ties; and escalated large-scale, militarized raids across the US. 'I thought I was going home' In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Thomas detailed his ordeal and the brutal conditions he witnessed in detention that advocates say have long plagued undocumented people and become worse under Trump. Thomas, an engineer at a tech firm, had never had any problems visiting the US under the visa waiver program. He had initially planned to return home in October, but badly tore his calf, suffered severe swelling and was having trouble walking, he said. A doctor ordered him not to travel for eight to 12 weeks due to the risk of blood clots, which, he said, meant he had to stay slightly past 8 December, when his authorisation expired. A flower rests in front of California National Guardsmen during a protest outside the Federal Building on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij) He got paperwork from his physician and contacted the Irish and American embassies and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to seek an extension, but it was short notice and he did not hear back, he said. 'I did everything I could with the online tools available to notify the authorities that this was happening,' he said, explaining that by the time his deadline to leave the US had approached, he was nearly healed and planning to soon return. 'I thought they would understand because I had the correct paperwork. It was just a couple of days for medical reasons.' He might have avoided immigration consequences if it weren't for an ill-timed law enforcement encounter. Thomas and his girlfriend, Malone, were visiting her family in Savannah, Georgia, when Thomas suffered a mental health episode, he and Malone recalled. The two had a conflict in their hotel room and someone overheard and called the police, they said. Malone, who requested to use her middle name to protect her boyfriend's identity, said she was hoping officers would get him treatment and did not want to see him face criminal charges. But police took him to jail, accusing him of 'falsely imprisoning' his girlfriend in the hotel room, a charge Malone said she did not support. He was soon released on bond, but instead of walking free, was picked up by US immigration authorities, who transported him 100 miles away to an Ice processing centre in Folkston, Georgia. The facility is operated by the private prison company Geo Group on behalf of Ice, with a capacity to hold more than 1,000 people. Thomas was given a two-page removal order, which said he had remained in the US three days past his authorisation and contained no further allegations. On 17 December, he signed a form agreeing to be removed. But despite signing the form, he remained at Folkston, unable to get answers on why Ice wasn't deporting him or how long he would remain in custody. David Cheng, an attorney who represented Thomas, said he requested that Ice release him with an agreement that he'd return to Ireland as planned, but Ice refused. At one point at Folkston, after a fight broke out, officers placed detainees on lockdown for about five days, cutting them off from contacting their families, he said. Thomas said he and others only got approximately one hour of outdoor time each week. In mid-February, after about two months in detention, officers placed him and nearly 50 other detainees in a holding cell, preparing to move them, he said: 'I thought I was finally going home.' He called his family to tell them the news. Instead, he and the others were shackled around their wrists, waists and legs and transported four hours to the federal correctional institution, Atlanta, a prison run by the US Bureau of Prisons (BoP), he said. BoP houses criminal defendants on federal charges, but the Trump administration, as part of its efforts to expand Ice detention, has been increasingly placing immigrants into BoP facilities – a move that advocates say has led to chaos, overcrowding and violations of detainees' rights. I did everything I could ... to notify the authorities that this was happening — Thomas 'We were treated less than human' Thomas said the conditions and treatment by BoP were worse than Ice detention: 'They were not prepared for us whatsoever.' He and other detainees were placed in an area with dirty mattresses, cockroaches and mice, where some bunkbeds lacked ladders, forcing people to climb to the top bed, he said. BoP didn't seem to have enough clothes, said Thomas, who got a jumpsuit but no shirt. The facility also gave him a pair of used, ripped underwear with brown stains. Some jumpsuits appeared to have bloodstains and holes, he added. Each detainee was given one toilet paper roll a week. He shared a cell with another detainee, and he said they were only able to flush the toilet three times an hour. He was often freezing and was given only a thin blanket. The food was 'disgusting slop', including some kind of mysterious meat that at times appeared to have chunks of bones and other inedible items mixed in, he said. He was frequently hungry. 'The staff didn't know why we were there, and they were treating us exactly as they would treat BoP prisoners, and they told us that,' Thomas said. 'We were treated less than human.' He and others requested medical visits, but were never seen by physicians, he said: 'I heard people crying for doctors, saying they couldn't breathe, and staff would just say, 'Well, I'm not a doctor,' and walk away.' He did eventually receive the psychiatric medication he requested, but staff would throw his pill under his cell door, and he'd sometimes have to search the floor to find it. Detainees, he said, were given recreation time in an enclosure that was partially open to fresh air, but resembled an indoor cage: 'You couldn't see the outside whatsoever. I didn't see the sky for weeks.' He had sciatica from an earlier hip injury and said he began experiencing 'unbearable' nerve pain as a result of the lack of movement. Thomas said it seemed Ice's placements in BoP were arbitrary and poorly planned. Of the nearly 50 people taken from Ice to BoP, around 30 of them were transferred back to Folkston a week later, and the following week, two from that group were once again returned to BoP, he said. In the BoP Atlanta facility, he said, Ice representatives would show up once a week to talk to detainees. Detainees would crowd around Ice officials and beg for case updates or help. Ice officers spoke Spanish and English, but Middle Eastern and North African detainees who spoke neither were stuck in a state of confusion. 'It was pandemonium,' Thomas said. Thomas said he saw a BoP guard tear up 'watching the desperation of the people trying to talk to Ice and find out what was happening', and that this officer tried to assist people as best as she could. Thomas and Malone tried to help asylum seekers and others he met at BoP by connecting them to advocates. Thomas was also unable to speak to his children, because there was no way to make international calls: 'I don't know how I made it through.' In mid-March, Thomas was briefly transferred again to a different Ice facility. The authorities did not explain what had changed, but two armed federal officers then escorted him on a flight back to Ireland. DHS and Ice did not respond to inquiries, and a spokesperson for Geo Group declined to comment. It seems like a completely incomprehensible, punitive detention — Sirine Shebaya Donald Murphy, a BoP spokesperson, confirmed that Thomas had been in the bureau's custody, but did not comment about his case or conditions at the Atlanta facility. BoP is now housing Ice detainees in eight of its prisons and would 'continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfil the administration's policy objectives', he added. 'This will be a lifelong burden' It's unclear why Thomas was jailed for so long for a minor immigration violation. 'It seems completely outlandish that they would detain someone for three months because he overstayed a visa for a medical reason,' said Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project, who is not involved in his case and was told a summary by the Guardian. 'It is such a waste of time and money at a time when we're hearing constantly about how the government wants to cut expenses. It seems like a completely incomprehensible, punitive detention.' Ice, she added, was 'creating its own crisis of overcrowding'. Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, senior policy counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, also not involved in the case, said in general, it was not uncommon for someone to remain in immigration custody even after they've accepted a removal order and that she has had European clients shocked to learn they can face serious consequences for briefly overstaying a visa. Ice, however, had discretion to release Thomas with an agreement that he'd return home instead of keeping him indefinitely detained, she said. The Trump administration, she added, has defaulted to keeping people detained without weighing individual factors of their cases: 'Now it's just, do we have a bed?' Republican lawmakers in Georgia last year also passed state legislation requiring police to alert immigration authorities when an undocumented person is arrested, which could have played a role in Thomas being flagged to Ice, said Samantha Hamilton, staff attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, a non-profit group that advocates for immigrants' rights. She met Thomas on a legal visit at the BoP Atlanta facility. Residents gather during a community vigil on Monday, June 30, 2025, to stand in solidarity with an immigrant family after ICE agents detained Rosalina Luna Vargas on Saturday, June 28, in front of her children, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Hamilton said she was particularly concerned about immigrants of colour who are racially profiled and pulled over by police, but Thomas's ordeal was a reminder that so many people are vulnerable: 'The mass detentions are terrifying and it makes me afraid for everyone.' Thomas had previously travelled to the US frequently for work, but now questions if he'll ever be allowed to return: 'This will be a lifelong burden.' Malone, his girlfriend, said she plans to move to Ireland to live with him: 'It's not an option for him to come here and I don't want to be in America anymore.' Since his return, Thomas said he has had a hard time sleeping and processing what happened: 'I'll never forget it, and it'll be a long time before I'll be able to even start to unpack everything I went through. It still doesn't feel real. When I think about it, it's like a movie I'm watching.' He said he has also struggled with long-term health problems that he attributes to malnutrition and inappropriate medications he was given while detained. He was shaken by reports of people sent away without due process: 'I wouldn't have been surprised if I ended up at Guantánamo Bay or El Salvador, because it was so disorganised. I was just at the mercy of the federal government.' - The Guardian
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Hundreds of detainees with no criminal charges sent to Trump's ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
The notorious new 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration jail in the Florida Everglades contains hundreds of detainees with no criminal records or charges, it was disclosed on Sunday, as lawmakers decried 'inhumane' conditions inside after touring the facility. Donald Trump has insisted that the remote camp in swamp land populated by pythons and alligators was reserved for immigrants who were 'deranged psychopaths' and 'some of the most vicious people on the planet' awaiting deportation. But at least one detainee shouted out to politicians during Saturday's visit that he was a US citizen, the Democratic Florida congressman Maxwell Frost said. And the Miami Herald obtained and published a list of 700 people held in cages showing that at least 250 had committed no offense other than a civil immigration violation. Authorities have refused to release a list of those sent there by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice). The Florida department of emergency management, which operates the hastily assembled tent encampment, said in a brief statement: 'All detainees at the facility are illegal immigrants, and any claim otherwise it's completely false [sic]'. Frost said the revelations, and the lawmakers' visit, raised new questions about the legality of the camp, which federal agencies in court documents have insisted is entirely a state-run and -funded operation. 'There are Ice agents there every day, and I was told directly from the guy running the whole thing that Ice tells them exactly what to do, how to put everything together,' he said. 'They gave them the instructions on how to do the cages, the food, who comes in and goes out. It's Ice making all the decisions, and he was very clear that the role the state is playing is logistical. This is a federal facility. Ice is calling all the shots.' Frost said conditions for detainees were intolerable, with excessive heat and meager food portions. There were three exposed toilets for 32 people held in each cage, some often not flushing, and drinking water was provided from a spigot on the cistern, Frost said. 'It's a huge cleanliness concern,' he said. 'It's the same unit where people are shitting, and if you really need to drink water you have to wait until somebody's finished using the bathroom.' He added that detainees were guarded by private security staff from a 'hodgepodge' of companies. 'It's a huge source of taxpayer money, just going to corporations. But also what worries me is these people do not have the training you need to run a facility like this,' he said. Florida officials have denied conditions are unsafe or unhygienic in previous statements, and accused media outlets of spreading 'fake news'. Meanwhile, judges in south Florida are mulling a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups trying to halt the jail. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Friends of the Everglades group are seeking a restraining order against activity at the camp at a largely abandoned airstrip in the wilderness west of Miami. Their concerns, the CBD attorney Elise Bennett noted, were not just for conditions inside the camp. They say there is ongoing, irreparable damage caused by a network of new paved roads on fragile wildlife habitat, and light pollution in the previously dark night sky that can be seen from 15 miles (24km) away. 'We're concerned that the court has not acted yet because we are continuing to see construction and operation activities at the site,' she said. The lawsuit, in the US southern district federal court, names Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary; Todd Lyons, the acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice); and Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida division of emergency management (DEM), as defendants. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Even without a ruling, the case has already proven disruptive. It has cast into doubt the assertion by Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, that the state would receive federal reimbursement of the $450m it spent to set up and operate the jail in support of Trump's aggressive detention and deportation agenda. In a written response, the justice department attempted to distance itself from the facility, arguing the homeland security department had 'not implemented, authorized, directed or funded Florida's temporary detention center', and that Florida was 'constructing and operating the facility using state funds on state lands under state emergency authority'. No request for federal funds was received, and no money given, it said. The statement appeared to contradict Noem's social media post insisting that Alligator Alcatraz would be 'largely funded' by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), amplified by Trump on his visit to Florida earlier this month when he told reporters: 'We took the Fema money … and we used it to build this project.' Bennett said the federal filing did not hold water, calling it 'a convenient litigation position that is belied by all the public statements these agencies and officials have been making, as well as just the nature of the activity'. 'Enforcing federal immigration law by detaining immigrants is inherently a federal action and it cannot occur without the participation of the federal agencies,' she said. A new lawsuit was filed on Thursday by a number of Democratic state lawmakers who were turned away when they tried to access the jail despite their right under Florida statute to make unannounced visits to state and local detention facilities to 'observe the unadulterated conditions' therein. 'Just hours before we were denied entry, they allowed the president of the United States and Fox News to basically run a propaganda video about how wonderful this site is, but that is not what we're hearing on the ground,' state senator Carlos Guillermo Smith said. 'What are they hiding? What is it they don't want us to see?' The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. In an earlier emailed statement, Stephanie Hartman, the deputy director of communications for the DEM, accused the lawmakers of engaging in 'political theater' for trying to visit the jail, despite Trump and Noem's own well-publicized visit with a Fox camera crew in tow just 48 hours earlier. She also said they had no entitlement to visit because they were acting as individuals, not a legislative committee, and because the facility was not under the jurisdiction of the Florida corrections department. Smith said he was outraged that some undocumented detainees had no criminal convictions or charges, despite Trump touting it during his visit as a jail for the 'most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet'. Without federal reimbursement, Smith said: 'Florida taxpayers could be left holding a half-a-million-dollar bag to pay for this cruel, inhumane, un-American detention camp that will ultimately bleed money out of our public schools, out of critical government services that Floridians need, and out-of-state resources that are required to support hurricane survivors.'
