‘We had to eat like animals’: Migrants at ICE jail forced to kneel and eat ‘like dogs’ in horrific conditions

A new report released today by Human Rights Watch, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and Sanctuary of the South describes shocking abuses and cruel conditions at three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in South Florida. Migrants held at the federal detention center in downtown Miami were reportedly handcuffed with their hands tied behind their backs and forced to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates “like dogs.”

Warning: The following details mistreatment of humans, in ways that are disturbing.

This incident is part of a series of alleged abuses at ICE-run jails in Florida since January, based on interviews with detainees. The report comes directly from the Human Rights Watch. It described widespread overcrowding, lack of medical care, and humiliating treatment.

One detainee, identified as Pedro, shared that he was denied lunch until 7 PM and then had to eat while still in handcuffs, saying, “We had to eat like animals.” Another detainee, a British business owner named Harpinder Chauhan, said he was forced to “bend over and eat off the chairs with our mouths, like dogs.” It’s horrific, but when you have a president who calls humans “animals,” it’s not hard to expect his goons to mistreat immigrants.

ICE officials have reportedly been mistreating those they’ve detained

The report outlines serious problems at three facilities: the Krome North Service Processing Center in west Miami, the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, and the Federal Detention Center in Miami. Dozens of men were crammed into small holding cells for hours. Some facilities, like Krome, were so overcrowded that detainees were kept on buses in parking lots for more than 24 hours with only one toilet, which quickly became unusable.

Many detainees spent up to 12 days in “la hielera,” meaning “the ice box.” This is a freezing intake room with no beds, warm clothes, or even space to sit. Some cells at Krome held more than twice the number of people they were designed for.

At Krome, women were forced to use toilets where men could see them. They were also denied access to proper medical care, showers, or enough food. Some detainees said they were not given soap or water for 20 days in a row.

Detainees at the Broward Transitional Center, where 44-year-old Haitian woman Marie Ange Blaise died in April, repeatedly said they were denied proper medical or mental health treatment. This included delays in care for injuries and long-term health problems, as well as dismissive responses from staff.

In one alleged incident in April at the downtown Miami jail, staff reportedly turned off security cameras before a “disturbance control team” violently attacked detainees who were protesting the lack of medical care for a man coughing up blood. One detainee suffered a broken finger in the incident.