A harrowing Human Rights Watch report uncovered horrendous conditions within three immigration detention facilities in Florida during President Donald Trump’s administration. The report, ‘You Feel Like Your Life is Over’, records the testimony of 17 detainees who have been detained since January 20, 2025.
The Federal Detention Centre (FDC), Broward Transitional Centre (BTC), and Krome North Service Processing Centre (Krome) in Miami are accused of cruel treatment, filthy conditions, enforced silence, and physical and psychological abuse.
Despite being the most democratic country in the world, the report paints a horrifying picture of systematic abuse and disregard in the US immigration system.
Detainees Report Physical Abuse and Isolation
Detainees reported being beaten, bound, and disciplined for requesting assistance. According to one, “They jumped on them, tied them up, and dragged them out.” Another prisoner claimed that they were disciplined for seeking mental health care.
“They isolate you if you ask for help,” she said. They might put you in solitary confinement for two weeks if you cry. So people stay quiet.” This cycle of intimidation and repression has made detainees suffer in silence, lest they be severely punished for raising their voices.
Eating Like Animals, Treated Like Criminals
Harpinder Chauhan, a British businessman held by ICE at a routine immigration appointment, gave an appalling tale from the FDC. “We had to bend over and eat out of the chairs with our mouths, like dogs,” he testified.
Detainees were said to be forced to eat with their hands chained behind their backs. The treatment, the report contends, dehumanises immigrants and contravenes minimum standards of dignity and care.
Women Exposed, Hygiene Denied
The report also chronicles the shocking treatment of women being detained at Krome. Women detainees reported being put in rooms with open toilets visible to men in neighbouring cells. “If the men stood on a chair, they could see right into our room and the toilet,” an Argentinian woman testified.
Worst of all, authorities withheld access to simple hygiene. “We pleaded to be able to shower,” she explained. “But they told us it was not possible because it was a men’s facility.”
‘Literally Deadly,’ Say Advocates
Katie Blankenship, co-founder of Sanctuary of the South and an immigration attorney, denounced the Trump administration’s crackdown. She described the approach as “rapid, chaotic, and cruel.”
In her opinion, it is “literally deadly and causing a human rights crisis that will plague this state and the entire country for years to come.”
America’s Crisis of Conscience
These revelations show a decline in humanitarian standards in addition to flaws in detention practices. The authorities’ silence only adds to the worry.
If the United States does not act firmly and openly against such abuses, it risks abandoning the very values of justice, liberty, and dignity that formed its foundation.
