African asylum-seekers sue DHS, allege abuse while in ICE detention

A human rights group said it found the U.S. government is failing African migrants. The developments stem from a 2022 report that found the U.S. violated the human rights of dozens of asylum-seekers during the Trump presidency. Among the allegations were torture and restraint.

Our forefathers were taken from Africa in chains, and I was brought to Africa in chains.

Cameroonian migrant suing the U.S. government

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch alleged that the U.S. sent Cameroonians with credible asylum claims back to the country they fled and, additionally, mistreated an already traumatized group of people.

Now, some of those subjected to the alleged violations are filing lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and immigration authorities. Plaintiffs in two lawsuits said they were fleeing violence against English speakers in their native African country but then faced racist abuse in U.S. detention facilities.

“Plaintiffs were tear gassed in confined spaces, subjected to solitary confinement, negligently and improperly confined in restraints, and subjected to medical neglect that caused them severe physical and mental harm,” the lawsuit said.

According to the complaint, some Cameroonians began a hunger strike to protest the alleged mistreatment. As a result, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allegedly deported three of the migrants back to Cameroon. Back in Cameroon, they were forced into hiding out of what they said was a fear of being arrested and tortured by Cameroonian authorities.

“Our forefathers were taken from Africa in chains, and I was brought to Africa in chains,” one of the plaintiffs said in an interview after being deported.

The suit alleges that the men were forced into restraints called the “WRAP,” a device designed to humanely restrain someone who may be a danger to themselves or others. However, the WRAP has been called into question by civil rights groups, which in 2021 claimed that it had not been used correctly in detention centers.

“ICE enforcement and removal operations (ERO) is using the WRAP in a manner that constitutes torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in violation of the convention against torture,” a letter championed by several rights groups said.

An ICE spokesperson told The Washington Post that it does not comment on ongoing litigation.

In 2022, President Biden granted Cameroonians temporary protected status, a measure that, if granted under Trump, would have allowed the plaintiffs to temporarily stay in the U.S. as they sought asylum.

An attorney who helped bring the litigation says this is part of a bigger picture.

“The treatment of Black migrants needs to be part of the broader conversation about race in this country,” said Fatma E. Marouf, a law professor at Texas A&M University Law School.