ICE Agents Stuck in Stifling Shipping Container with Deportees in Djibouti

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are stuck in a stifling converted shipping container at the Navy base in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti along with the eight immigrants they were taking to Sudan.

A federal judge blocked the federal government from deporting immigrants to third countries without due process and the flight on its way to Sudan had to stop at the Navy base in Djibouti. The judge asked government lawyers how they wanted to provide due process. The government chose to send the aircraft back to the USA empty, keep the deportees in Djibouti and provide due process there. Now the government claims to be unable even to house them adequately there.

The temperature outside goes above 100 degrees Fahrenheit each day. Each night the Navy base suffers a smog cloud from burn pits nearby which burn trash and human waste. The base has a constant “imminent danger of rocket attacks” from terrorist groups in adjacent Yemen, which base officials warned about.

The group was sent without body armor, medicines or medical equipment. They did not have access to anti-malarial drugs until after reaching the base, and should have been on such drugs a couple of days before going there. Everyone became ill with upper respiratory infections within 72 hours of landing.

The Department of Defense says it has provided ICE agents with Augmentin (an antibiotic), azithromycin (another antibiotic), doxycycline (a third antibiotic), prednisone (steroid), inhalers, Zyrtec (treats allergies), Tylenol (pain and fever reliever), Motrin (pain reliever), Benadryl, Mucinex, Sudafed, nasal spray and eye drops. This contradicts what a government lawyer told the court, saying the agents had no access to medications.

Agents and detainees are allowed to take a shower every other day.

The original ICE team of three agents from the flight was replaced 27 May with an expanded team of eleven plus two medical support staff.