ICE Treats Immigrants at Florida Detention Centers Worse Than Animals

The report, which focused on three immigrant detention centers in Florida—Krome North Service Processing Center, the Broward Transitional Center, and the Federal Detention Center—was based on interviews with 11 detainees, 14 immigration attorneys, and the family and friends of seven detainees who were held in detention between January and June 2025. They alleged that in these facilities, detainees suffer medical neglect and physical abuse, and are deprived of access to legal representation and safe living conditions.

Human Rights Watch found that officers at these facilities were often abusive to the detainees. In one instance, after a group of detainees waited hours to receive food, officers forced the men to eat while their hands were bound. “We had to bend over and eat off the chairs with our mouths, like dogs,” one man said, according to the report.

In another instance, detainees in a crowded cell became agitated when officers ignored a man who was coughing up blood for hours. Eventually, officers stormed the cell and forced everyone to the ground, binding their hands with zip ties. One detainee said he heard an officer demand that the cell’s CCTV be turned off, and another said one of the officers slapped him.