US Base in Djibouti: Migrants Arrested in Shipping Container Amid Legal Battle Over Deportations

At a US base, migrants encounter intense heat, poisonous smoke, and security risks as a deportation plan encounters legal obstacles.

According to new court filings from the Trump administration, eight migrants who were initially scheduled for deportation to South Sudan are now being held in unsanitary and hazardous conditions in a converted shipping container on a US military installation in Djibouti.

A Boston federal judge decided that transporting the migrants to South Sudan was against a court order, and they were taken off a deportation flight. The migrants are from Cuba and Vietnam, among other countries. The administration’s move to swiftly deport them to a third country with which they had no affiliation raised ethical and legal questions.

The guys are currently being detained at Camp Lemonnier, a US military installation in East Africa, where they are reportedly subjected to daily temperatures above 100°F (38°C), poisonous smoke from neighboring fire pits, and the possibility of rocket attacks from terrorist organizations located in Yemen. According to the records, inadequate anti-malarial treatments and poor air quality are causing ICE officers to suffer, medical care is scarce, and prescription supplies are running low.

The Trump administration’s practice of quickly deporting migrants with criminal histories to third countries, even when those countries may present serious hazards, has been revived by the Biden administration through an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The men must have a reasonable opportunity to voice concerns about being persecuted or harmed if deported to South Sudan, according to US District Judge Brian E. Murphy, who stopped the deportations.

Despite several family members having brief talks this week, advocates said the migrants have yet to be permitted to speak with their attorneys.

Human Rights First’s Robyn Barnard described the situation as “a humanitarian crisis” and urged legislators to intervene during a congressional hearing on Friday. She remarked, “We have people stuck in harsh circumstances, caught in a legal limbo.”

Even in the face of court judgments and global human rights concerns, the case highlights the human cost of the administration’s larger immigration crackdown and its strong determination to carry out mass deportation vows.