In Florida and throughout the nation, many immigrants are currently locked up in immigration detention facilities. While some have been placed there as they await asylum interviews, others are facing possible deportation. U.S. immigration law is quite complex, and many detainees’ situations are complicated matters that will take months, even years, to resolve.
Sadly, news headlines are often ripe with stories regarding alleged mistreatment of immigrants being held in detention facilities across the nation. A particular situation in a nearby state has raised concerns for one man’s well-being who says he was sent to solitary confinement for supposedly trying to deceive immigration officers about the pay wages he was due for his work in the kitchen. This particular facility is a billion-plus dollar private establishment that is mostly kept running by a workforce comprised of immigrant detainees.
The man in this situation says he did not lie about his work hours or wages due; yet, he was kept in isolation for more than a week based on officials’ accusations against him. He also said he suffered extreme head pain while in solitary confinement and that he was denied access to the outdoors for at least three consecutive days while imprisoned in a single room with no windows. Officials at the detention facility have denied any deviation from accepted protocol regarding immigrant detention and solitary confinement issues.
A class action lawsuit not specifically related to this man’s situation but coming from immigrants who had been detained at the same facility states that detainees are forced to work for subminimum wages to keep the system running, and they are often denied basic needs, such as toiletries and food. The man in this situation believes his solitary confinement was retaliation against him for filing an official grievance when he did not receive the wages he was due for his labor. Many similar U.S. immigration law situations in Florida are able to be resolved when experienced attorneys step in to help protect immigrants’ rights.
Source: theintercept.com, “Immigrant Detainee Accuses ICE Contractor CoreCivic of Locking Him in Solitary Over $8“, Ryan Devereaux, Spencer Woodman, April 19, 2018
