The Intercept reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Louisiana threatened to expose a group of Cameroonian asylum seekers to COVID-19 if they did not submit to deportation. The asylum seekers were scheduled to be deported last week. But their flight was canceled at the last minute amid new allegations of ICE torturing people into signing deportation orders.
In related news, the Biden administration has suspended deportation flights to Haiti following pressure from immigrant justice advocates. Hundreds of asylum seekers, mostly from Haiti and African countries, were deported within Biden’s first days in office. This comes as the Biden administration is expected to issue new guidelines this week to stem the number of arrests and deportations at the hands of ICE.