"We Had To Eat Like Animals": Immigrants Face Inhumane Conditions At US Detention Centres, Report Alleges

Inmates at a Miami immigration detention centre were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates "like dogs", according to a report published on Monday detailing conditions at three overflowing south Florida facilities. The report, titled "'You Feel Like Your Life is Over': Abusive Practices at Three Florida Immigration Detention Centres Since January 2025", outlines claims against the Trump administration regarding its treatment of immigrants. The document highlights the mistreatment at the Krome North Service Processing Centre, Broward Transitional Centre, and the Federal Detention Centre in Miami. 

According to the Guardian, the report details how numerous men were confined in a crowded holding cell for extended periods, and were denied lunch until about 7 pm. They were required to eat while remaining in shackles, with their food placed on chairs before them. "We had to eat like animals," one detainee named Pedro said, per the outlet. 

The report alleged that guards' demeaning behaviour is widespread across all three facilities. At the Krome North service Processing Centre, female detainees were made to use toilets in full view of men being held there, and were denied access to gender-appropriate care, showers or adequate food.

Due to overcrowding, some inmates claimed that they were held for more than 24 hours in a bus in the parking lot. Men and women were confined together and unshackled only when needed to use the single toilet, which quickly became clogged. "The bus became disgusting. It was the type of toilet in which normally people only urinate, but because we were on the bus for so long, and we were not permitted to leave it, others defecated in the toilet. Because of this, the whole bus smelled strongly of faeces," one man said.

Upon facility entry, the detainees said that they spent up to 12 days crammed into a frigid intake room without bedding or warm clothing, sleeping on concrete flooring. Krome's overcrowding meant every available space was utilised for holding new arrivals, the report stated. "By the time I left, almost all the visitation rooms were full. A few were so full that men couldn't even sit, all had to stand," Andrea, a female detainee, said.

At Broward Transitional Centre, detainees reported insufficient medical and psychological care. Some suffered delayed treatment for injuries and chronic conditions, and dismissive or hostile responses from staff, the report said. In one alleged incident, staff turned off surveillance cameras and a "disturbance control team" brutalised detainees who were protesting about a lack of medical attention for a detainee who was coughing blood. One detainee even suffered a broken finger. 

All three facilities were severely overcrowded, a former detainee said. 

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The report stated that the documented abuses reflect inhumane conditions inside federal immigration facilities that have worsened significantly since Trump's January inauguration and subsequent push to ramp up detentions and deportations. 

"The anti-immigrant escalation and enforcement tactics under the Trump administration are terrorising communities and ripping families apart, which is especially cruel in the state of Florida, which thrives because of its immigrant communities," said Katie Blankenship, immigration attorney and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South.

"The rapid, chaotic, and cruel approach to arresting and locking people up is literally deadly and causing a human rights crisis that will plague this state and the entire country for years to come," she added.