Heather Lea Ramírez
“The administration can decide not to deport anyone, TRO aside. Morality, humanity, and international obligations require the Administration to follow through. Otherwise, the U.S. is chartering death planes.”
By: Heather Lea Ramírez, Law at the Margins Intern
It has been less than three months since President Biden has taken office. Despite Trump’s departure, many immigrant rights organizations and activists recognize that the fight is far from over. On the first day taking office, Biden signed an executive order for a 100-day deportation moratorium, which would pause deportations for selected individuals. The moratorium is the result of years of organizing, direct action, and pressure placed on the incoming Biden Administration by the immigrant rights community and activists. However, the moratorium has been met with hostility by conservatives and was blocked through a temporary restraining order (TRO) by a Trump appointed federal judge in Texas. The order has since been extended from the original date end date of February 9th to February 23rd.
Hundreds of undocumented immigrants, migrants, and asylum seekers are continually being deported despite the Executive Order and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implementation memo. The Biden Administration is being criticized by immigrants’ rights advocates for the continued deportations and say that he possesses the authority to stop the deportations despite the TRO by the federal judge. Peniel Ibe, Policy Engagement Coordinator at the American Friends Service Committee and Interfaith Immigration Coalition Co-Chair, speaks to this criticism, “[The] TRO issued in a politically-motivated lawsuit only affects one part of the DHS memo. The department is still supposed to ensure every case meets the standard before deporting anyone. The administration can decide not to deport anyone, TRO aside. Morality, humanity, and international obligations require the Administration to follow through. Otherwise, the U.S. is chartering death planes.”
Immigrant Rights organizations, communities, and faith leaders are demanding that Biden keep his promise by “grounding the planes” that are continuing to deport individuals including asylum seekers who are fleeing deadly situations in their home countries. According to Black Alliance for Just Immigration, the Biden Administration plans on deporting close to 2,000 Africans and Caribbeans after a week of deporting hundreds of Jamaicans and Haitians.
A stark example of this are Cameroonian asylum seekers who are being deported against their will after being forced to sign their deportation orders through the use of torture by ICE officers at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana. On February 1st, Freedom for Immigrants, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, Al Otro Lado Advocates for Immigrant Rights, and Lara Nochomovitz, Esq. filed a federal civil rights complaint detailing civil and human rights violations committed against Cameroonian individuals in the custody of ICE at the Winn Correctional Center. The complaint includes testimony from three Cameroonian individuals at Winn Correction. It describes the violence they experienced at the hands of ICE officers, including being handcuffed, choked, and beaten to force their signatures on their own deportation orders. According to the complaint, “The three asylum seekers had ongoing appeals, stays of removal or motions to reopen their legal cases…” and states that “[t]he use of violence to force individuals in ICE custody to involuntary sign documents relating to their deportation is a continued pattern and practice that ICE’s leadership has ignored.” In response to the federal complaint and pressure from immigrant rights activists, ICE canceled a deportation flight to West Africa on February 3rd. The flight included one of the detainees who gave testimony in the official complaint. In an email statement, to The Guardian, ICE stated that the flight was canceled in order for the individual to be interviewed concerning the allegations. Two days later on February 5th, after all-night calls by community activists, advocates, and congressional staffers, outgoing Haitian deportation flights were halted. While advocates find this hopeful sign of the Biden Administration trying to rein in ICE, they continue to demand that all deportations be halted.
Interview with Daniel, Haitian Bridge Alliance
In an interview with Law At The Margins, Daniel, who works with Haitian Bridge Alliance, spoke to his personal experience of fleeing Cameroon due to the violence experienced by him and others who were vocal about the marginalization faced by the Anglophone population minority by the Francophone majority, seeking asylum at the border, the current situation in Cameroon in which many are being deported back, and demands on the Biden Administration.
* Interview was conducted on February 2, 2021, and has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your personal experience seeking asylum?
“In 2016, there was a peaceful protest and the Government reacted. The military came in the streets and were shooting people and killing people. I was arrested personally. Now, the military are patrolling the street and shooting innocent people and arresting any young man that sounds like a threat to the government. That is the reason why people are fleeing to come to the United States to seek asylum. And going to other countries but [they] turn them away. And because you know…the United States is supposed to be the country of freedom, and that is why we head to the border to ask for asylum…I presented myself legally at the border to ask for asylum. I was chained from my head, my waist, and my legs. In shackles and put in a cage. I was wondering what I had done wrong. I was in a cage for fifteen days and then was transferred to a detention facility and was there for eight months and then released.
The conditions in the detention centers are completely horrible. When I was in the detention center at the border, I didn’t know when it was day or night because we were completely underground and had no roof access. So, you are completely traumatized and in chains and in pain and sleeping on the floor. And you don’t know why you are treated this way because you came to seek freedom. We have ICE officers who speak to people like they are animals, insult immigrants and I have friends who the ICE officers have called them “monkeys” because of the racism and the hatred people have for Black people.
ICE’s strategy to have people easily deported is to conduct credible fear interviews after people are held in these horrible conditions and are traumatized. Most of these interviews didn’t have interpreters and some of these people couldn’t understand English and people couldn’t hear what the interpreters were saying because it was by the phone. Even if you were able to submit your credible fear interview, when you go to court, the immigration judges are appointed by the Trump administration and they have no mercy and no discretion at all for immigrants.
There are horrible killings every day in Cameroon and the judges know about these horrible conditions and yet, they decide and pass deportation orders for Cameroonians to be deported back to these horrible conditions. Back to their graves I say. We see that the judges have no discretion at all. No mercy at all for whatever is going on for these countries. And more to that – most of these people don’t want to sign deportation orders because they know what is at stake for them when they go back home. So these people refuse to sign the deportation orders because they prefer to stay in jail than to go back to their country. Imagine, I don’t want to sign my deportation order because I know what is at stake for me. If I am being deported, I am going to die, that is why I refuse to sign my deportation order. Yet, the ICE officers and detention officers force and torture these people to sign deportation orders. We have seen people who have had broken bones, and fists, and we see all the horrible and inhumane treatment from ICE and the detention officers.
What is currently happening at the moment regarding the deportations?
Yesterday, we had 102 people who were deported to Haiti including children. Children 8 months to 9 years old are being deported. Deporting them back to countries that they don’t know and have never been before. We were looking at around 1,800 people that are scheduled for deportation today. It is horrible. We are looking at 60 Cameroonians being deported today and we don’t know if the plane has left because ICE doesn’t give a report to anybody. And most of the people being deported have their cases pending. So they have a notice to appear, where they have to go to court so they have stays of removals being granted by judges but these ICE officers are still don’t want to take the person off of the flight for deportation
What are demands on the Biden Administration?
We want to remind the Biden and Harris Administration that he promised to stop deportations and have a fair procedure at looking at the immigration issue. Biden has the discretion, the authority, to sign an order to stop all deportations and let these cases be looked into.
Secondly, we want fair trial and fair procedures for all immigration cases. We want to look into all people on deportation cases to be looked at.
Thirdly, Cameroon is a country that is going through civil war and crisis right now and people cannot be deported back to these countries because they are being taken to their graves.
Fourthly, we would like to remind Biden that immigration is a black issue. We see Black people in immigration facing discrimination from judges, government lawyers, and ICE officers by giving them high amounts of bonds. We see bonds as high as $50,000, $60,000, and $30,000 for bonds. People are coming here for survival without anywhere to go to and yet, other people are receiving bonds as low as $1,500. It a complete form of discrimination against Black immigrants especially from Cameroon and Haiti. We want him to stop all deportations and let all the cases of immigration to look into.
What are ways people can express solidarity and offer support?
Call and place pressure on your congress representatives, your senators of your districts, and have them take these issues and place this matter on the table. Anyone who is interested in supporting start by spreading the word. We need to save our community members and our families. Assist community members facing deportation with finances because we need this money to bond people out for the $50,000 0r $30,000 bonds. We also have a list of people who need pen pals in detention. So, just get connected with any local organization that fights for immigrant rights, that is how you can assist.”
Currently, the Cameroon American Council is organizing to demand Nathania Funa be released from ICE custody. His sister, Martha Nfoneh has been vocal about her support and demand that there be an investigation into how Black asylum workers are being treated. Nathania and Martha’s parents and siblings were murdered by the Cameroonian military and being deported will only put Nathania’s life at risk. To take action in solidarity with Nathania, this toolkit form the Cameroon American Council has information on how to become involved.
