Latest news with #MellisaHarper
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
ICE Officers Trapped in a Shipping Container With Deported Migrants
Eight deportees and over a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are stranded in a shipping container in east Africa after a judge blocked their deportation flight. Neither the officers or immigrants are able to leave the container, located in a U.S. naval base in the scorching-hot nation of Djibouti, until the matter has been resolved by the courts, which could take weeks. The eight deportees, who hail from Myanmar, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Mexico and South Sudan, were accused of being convicted criminals by the Trump administration and deported in late May, the Washington Post reports. After the countries declined to accept them all eight were instead sent to South Sudan, until a U.S. federal judge ruled they had the right to challenge their convictions in court. The thirteen ICE officials meanwhile, fell ill immediately after landing and are currently suffering from respiratory infections, as well as extreme heat and cramped living conditions. They, along with the deportees, have been forced to reside in a makeshift detention center until the matter is resolved, with only six beds between them. Court documents filed by top ICE and DHS official Mellisa Harper claim the ICE officials are experiencing 'coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, and achy joints,'' and outside temperatures which exceed 100F, along with threats of malaria. At night, the air fills with a 'smog cloud' filled with rancid smoke formed from nearby pits where locals burn trash and human waste, which is so polluted that some officers have taken to sleeping with facial masks on. 'Upon arrival in Djibouti, officers were warned by U.S. Department of Defense officials of imminent danger of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in Yemen,' Harper said. 'The ICE officers lack body armor or other gear that would be appropriate in the case of an attack.' Both officers and detainees fell ill within 72 hours of landing in Djibouti, she added, with the ICE officers at risk of developing malaria due to not being vaccinated or taking appropriate medication before arriving in Djibouti. The declaration also outlined the conditions the detainees currently face, which includes only being able to shower once a day and being subjected to 'pat-downs and searches' every time they need to use the restroom, which is over 40 yards away from the container in which they are being held. There is also limited lighting in the area, which 'makes visibility difficult and creates a significant security risk for both the officers and aliens. 'The conference room in which the aliens are housed is not equipped nor suitable for detention of any length, let alone for the detention of high-risk individuals,' Harper added. 'Notably, the room has none of the security apparatus necessary for the detention of criminal aliens. If an altercation were to occur, there is no other location on site available to separate the aliens, which further compromises the officers' safety.' Trump officials have pounced on the ruling, made by Judge Brian E. Murphy, as proof of judicial overreach, and told the Supreme Court on Thursday that his decision violates the federal government's authority to deport violent immigrants. 'This Massachusetts District judge is putting the lives of our ICE law enforcement in danger by stranding them in Djibouti without proper resources, lack of medical care, and terrorists who hate Americans running rampant,' DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X. 'Our @ICEgov officers were only supposed to transport for removal 8 *convicted criminals* with *final deportation orders* who were so monstrous and barbaric that no other country would take them. This is reprehensible and, quite frankly, pathological.' Lawyers for the deportees meanwhile have expressed concern for the wellbeing of the detainees and the conditions the DHS has left them in. It remains unknown how long both the detainees and ICE officials will remain confined in Djibouti.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
South Sudan deportations have placed migrants, and ICE officials, in danger: new court filing
Nearly a dozen ICE officials and a group of migrants deported to South Sudan by the Trump administration are currently being housed in a converted shipping container and face grave dangers to their physical health, according to a new court filing. The filing, submitted by senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Mellisa Harper, cites a combination of blistering-high heat conditions, exposure to malaria and "imminent danger" of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in Yemen as threats to both the migrants and ICE officials. It comes after U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ordered the Trump administration to keep in U.S. custody a group of eight migrants who were deported to South Sudan without due process or the ability to challenge their removals to a third country. He ordered they remain in U.S. custody until each could be given a "reasonable fear interview," or a chance to explain to U.S. officials any fear of persecution or torture, should they be released. But the filing makes clear that the migrants, and ICE officials, face dangers in the meantime. According to Harper, ICE officials were not given anti-malaria medication prior to traveling to Djibouti – subjecting them to unknown levels of disease exposure in a war-torn region, where there has been an uptick in deadly clashes over resource scarcity, including cattle and access to potable water. The president of the country declared a state of emergency in certain parts of South Sudan just days ago. And even within the confines of the U.S. base, there are significant risks. According to ICE's submission, the migrants are being housed in a converted Conex shipping container at the U.S. military base in Djibouti, the only permanent military base the U.S. currently operates in Africa. Since their arrival, daily temperatures there have exceeded 100 degrees – searing conditions that they said make detention "of any length," especially longer term. Nearby burn pits used by Djibouti to burn off trash and human waste form a giant "smog cloud" that hangs over the base for much of the day, exposing the group to unknown hazardous materials burned off under breezeless, blistering hot skies. Some ICE officers have started to sleep in N-95 masks for additional protection, Harper noted. "Within 72 hours of landing in Djibouti, the officers and detainees began to feel ill," Harper noted, with symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing, and achy joints – though they lack the testing or medication necessary for treatment. Other, more imminent risks also remain. Upon arrival, ICE officials were notified by Defense Department officials of the "imminent danger" of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in Yemen, Harper noted, though ICE officers lack body armor or other gear appropriate in the case of an attack. The new filing could add pressure on the Trump administration to relocate the detainees and ICE officials in question. Murphy had stated in a previous order that migrants deported to South Sudan need not be held there, in a country where recent infighting and deadly conflict have displaced more than 150,000 people this year alone. He said then that the government had mischaracterized his order, "while at the same time manufacturing the very chaos they decry." His order requires the Trump administration to keep the six deported migrants in South Sudan under the custody of U.S. officials for a length of time needed to carry out the so-called "reasonable fear interviews," and make a determination over whether the migrants' concerns are adequate. "The court never said that defendants had to convert their foreign military base into an immigration facility," Murphy wrote in that order. "It only left that as an option, again, at defendants' request," he said then. It is unclear whether the government has plans to relocate the group.
