Echo

This sounds weirdly familiar

The 92-page report, “‘You Feel Like Your Life is Over’: Abusive Practices at Three Florida Immigration Detention Centers Since January 2025,” documents that people detained at Krome North Service Processing Center (Krome), Broward Transitional Center (BTC), and the Federal Detention Center (FDC) in Miami have been held in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, subjected to degrading treatment, and have not been given access to prompt and adequate medical care…

Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has driven forward a surge in immigration detention nationally, with ICE data showing that 45 out of 181 authorized detention facilities across the country exceeded their contractual capacity in mid-April.

The number of people detained by ICE in Florida has also surged, driven by federal and state policies that have expanded the scope of immigration enforcement. At Krome, the detained population more than tripled in the first three months of 2025, reaching nearly three times its operational capacity. FDC, a federal prison that in recent years had not been used for immigration detention, began holding hundreds of immigrants in February.

The researchers found that Krome detainees have been routinely held in freezing, overcrowded cells without bedding, denied access to hygiene, and subjected to prolonged and unjustifiable shackling during transportation. People detained at the three centers have been unable to get necessary medical care, including for chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and HIV. Women have been held at Krome, a men’s detention facility, without access to gender-appropriate care or privacy. At least two deaths in custody—one at Krome and one at BTC—may have been linked to medical neglect.

In one particularly degrading incident, detainees at FDC were forced to eat while shackled with their hands behind their backs. “We had to bend over and eat off the chairs with our mouths, like dogs,” said Harpinder Chauhan, a British entrepreneur who had been detained by ICE at a regular immigration appointment. Chauhan, who suffers from diabetes and heart disease, said he was denied insulin at various points during his detention at Krome, FDC, and BTC, including at BTC for nearly a week, after which he collapsed and was taken to a hospital.

The researchers documented widespread overcrowding, with detainees held for days for “processing” in frigid conditions, sitting and sleeping on cold concrete floors in rooms designed to hold far fewer people for much shorter periods. One man described sleeping next to a toilet in a room so crowded that people had to step over each other to move. Another said he was denied access to soap or water for 20 consecutive days. At Krome after processing, some cells held more than double their intended capacity. 

What does that sound like? What does it remind us of?

We all know.

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