Migrants at a detention centre in Florida were forced to eat “like dogs”, with their hands tied behind their backs, an international watchdog said in a report on Monday.
Human Rights Watch, which gathered testimony from detainees, relatives and lawyers, documented alleged abuses at three centres in southern Florida and said people were subjected to degrading treatment, lack of medical care and overcrowding.
Former detainee Harpinder Chauhan,56, a British entrepreneur and father of two, recounted an incident in April in which dozens of men were denied food for hours. They were allegedly crammed into a single cell with their feet shackled and hands tied behind their backs.
Food was eventually given to them on chairs, but they remained restrained, recalled Mr Chauhan, who Human Rights watch said was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody because of problems with his taxes. “We had to bend over and eat off the chairs with our mouths, like dogs,” said Mr Chauhan. He was eventually deported back to the UK.
The ICE's assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin described the allegations in the report as "lies".
"Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centres are false," she told The National.
"All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers."
According to Human Rights Watch, Mr Chauhan had lived in the US since 2016 and first entered the country on an E-2 investor visa. ICE officers detained him on February 11 after he ran into tax problems.
He and other former and current detainees described filthy, overcrowded centres where migrants are treated poorly. One woman spoke of being held at Krome North Service Processing Centre, which is usually reserved for men in South Florida.
“There was only one toilet, and it was covered in faeces,” she said. “We begged the officers to let us clean it, but they just said sarcastically, ‘Housekeeping will come soon.’ No one ever came.”
Another man said the intake centre he was kept in was freezing. “They turned up the air conditioning … You could not fall asleep because it was so cold. I thought I was going to experience hypothermia,” he said.
Under President Donald Trump, the number of people detained by ICE has increased dramatically as he continues to crack down on illegal immigration. As of late last month, an average of 56,000 people were being held in immigration detention centres per day, a 40 per cent increase from the same time last year and the highest in US history.
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Wicked: For Good
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- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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Suggested picnic spots
Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
Dubai
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Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
