Immigration officers told about a dozen men at the Krome detention center in Florida they could be sent to Africa, the Workers Circle said. The group said the detainees had serious medical conditions.
Officers pulled the men aside over the weekend and did not identify a destination, according to the organization. Advocates said flights could start as early as Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, Noelle Damico, the group’s director of social justice, said a handful of men had been taken from Krome that morning. Their medical conditions were unclear, she said, and the group understood that people without known illnesses were also being moved.
The detainees were held at Krome North in Miami and Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach. Both facilities are privately run for ICE.
Third-country removals continue as the Supreme Court considers their legality
The reported transfers would send people to countries other than their own. On September 29, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to continue third-country removals while it considers whether they are lawful. The justices set arguments for Dec. 9.
ICE’s use of the policy has expanded. From President Donald Trump’s return to office through early August, the agency sent nearly 28,000 people to more than 50 countries that were not their own, including more than 500 people sent to Africa, according to a Human Rights Watch analysis of agency data.
The administration has arrangements with at least 36 countries, including about 14 in Africa. A Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report quoted an unnamed current U.S. official describing the policy’s intended effect: “The point is that the Administration can threaten people that they will literally be dropped in the middle of nowhere. The point is to scare people”.
ICE denies deporting sick detainees as advocates describe planned flights
Arianne Betancourt, an immigrant rights organizer with the group, said detainees told her that deportation officers said Mexico would not accept them because of their medical conditions. She said officers told the men they would be sent to Africa instead.
“They have difficulties getting medicine,” Betancourt said of people deported to third countries. She said detainees there do not receive medical care in detention.
Damico said Cubans were told Cuba would not take them and they would be sent to Africa. The organization was in contact with detainees in Libya, Sudan and Eswatini, she said, adding, “There's no medical care.”
Immigration rights attorney Shalyn Fluharty said information from detainees suggested two flights could leave Thursday and Friday. Advocates identified the Central African Republic and possibly Burundi as destinations.
Fluharty said people previously deported on lengthy flights had been shackled at their hands, ankles and waists. Some who complained were put in full-body wraps that left them unable to move. “Travel can last sometimes up to 24 hours. What if you're somebody who has a heart condition? Who has a high risk of stroke? Who is experiencing diabetes and requires re[gular medication]”
The Department of Homeland Security called the allegations false. A spokesperson said the claims were “a false story designed to smear the brave men and women of ICE as they are facing a more than 1,600% increase in assaults against them.” The spokesperson added: “No sick detainees are being deported. All detainees are medically cleared before travel and leave with any necessary medications”.
The department called third-country removals “an essential public safety tool.” It said detainees receive notice and assurances before removal, and that the State Department receives assurances from destination countries that people sent there will be safe. An ICE spokesperson gave the same denial and said the agency did not confirm whether the reported flights had taken place or name their destinations.
A Cuban detainee’s wife says his diabetes and pancreatitis have worsened in custody
Noslén Sendra González, a 41-year-old Cuban national, is among the detainees advocates say may face removal. His wife, Anisley Cortés, said Cuba would not accept him and Mexico had turned him away because of his medical condition. She said deportation officers told him on Oct. 18 that he would be sent to Africa.
Sendra González has diabetes and depends on insulin. Advocates said he had been taken to the hospital three times since arriving at Krome. Cortés said he also has acute pancreatitis and spent weeks in hospital earlier this year.
“He lost over 50 pounds. They wouldn't give him his medication, and they would not give him enough food. It was a nightmare of a time for all of us,” Cortés said. “He is very sick and needs the right healthcare”.
She said he had been in immigration detention since last November, first at the now-closed “Alligator Alcatraz” jail and at Krome since April. DHS said he had received medical evaluations and had been discharged from hospitals after treatment.
Sendra González came to the United States in 2015 and received a removal order in September 2015. For nearly a decade, he was allowed to live and work under an order of supervision, which requires some immigrants with removal orders to check in with ICE.
Inspectors found crowding as advocates cite pending detention petitions
A September 2026 report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, OIG-26-29, documented an unannounced inspection on May 28 and 29, 2025. Inspectors counted 1,102 detainees at a facility with a maximum capacity of 882, about 25% over capacity.
The report identified inadequate access to functioning toilets, sinks and showers, and deficiencies in medical grievance procedures and staffing plans. Inspectors also cited problems with food storage, detainee requests and use of force. ICE concurred with all nine recommendations.
Accounts of the facility also described 15 vacant medical positions and active food-safety violations. The inspection took place more than a year before the current removal reports.
Advocates said the men each had a pending court petition challenging their detention. As of Oct. 22, no confirmed flight manifest placed Sendra González on either of the reported operations.
DHS said Sendra González has been subject to a removal order since September 2015. Supreme Court arguments over the legality of third-country removals are set for Dec. 9.
