ICE Official Reveals Miserable Conditions for U.S. Immigrants at Djibouti Prison

The Intercept

05-06-2025

A top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official on Thursday detailed appalling and unsafe conditions faced by a group of deportees, and the government officials guarding them, at a U.S. military base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti.
Melissa Harper, the number two official at ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, bemoaned a lack of adequate security equipment at Camp Lemonnier, a U.S. base in Djibouti. In a sworn court declaration, she described illness among the detainees and government agents, inadequate medical care, and 100-degree outdoor temperatures. She detailed risks from malaria, exposure to smoke from nearby burn pits, and potential attacks from militants in Yemen.
'The aliens are currently being held in a conference room in a converted Conex shipping container on the U.S. Naval base in Camp Lemonnier,' said Harper in a sworn declaration in federal court in Massachusetts. 'This has been identified as the only viable place to house the aliens.'
Eight detainees – from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, South Sudan and Vietnam – who had been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. were flown to the military base last month after the Trump administration attempted to expel them to South Sudan. A judge blocked that expulsion, telling the administration they could not send the men to the war-stricken country before they were given an opportunity to contest their deportation.
Now imprisoned in Djibouti, the men are currently supervised by 11 ICE personnel with two other ICE employees serving as medical staff. Those officials, Harper said in court, 'do not have the capacity to maintain constant surveillance, custody, and care' of the detainees.
Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the immigrants in the case, told The Intercept that the government brought this situation upon itself.
'The judge gave the government a choice as to how to remedy the government's violation of the court's order – either return them and comply with the order in the United States or comply with the order overseas,' she said. ' The government opted to comply overseas after telling the court that they had the ability to do so. This is a situation the government both created and can remedy if it so chooses.'
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ordered the Trump administration to halt the planned deportations to South Sudan after lawyers informed him of a flight to that war-torn African country that had already taken off. He cited a previous ruling he issued in April that barred officials from deporting migrants to third countries, without affording them certain due process rights first.
The Trump administration instead opted to detain the men in Djibouti as it argues its case.
The U.S. government has been laying the groundwork for a global gulag for expelled immigrants. The Trump administration is already using the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, and has its sights set on numerous other countries, including many that the State Department has excoriated for human rights abuses.
In addition to using U.S. military sites at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and now in Djibouti, the U.S. has reportedly explored, sought, or struck deals with more than 20 countries: Angola, Benin, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Kosovo, Libya, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Panama, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Camp Lemonnier is the primary U.S. military base on the African continent. For weeks, U.S. Africa Command has refused to offer any details on the conditions faced by the prisoners and ICE officials there. Asked about the conditions by The Intercept last month, AFRICOM spokesperson Kelly Cahalan said: 'Please reach out to the White House.'
The White House failed to respond to repeated questions from The Intercept.
In her testimony, a sworn declaration regarding the case filed to Murphy, Harper detailed additional dangers at the U.S. military base.
'Djibouti utilizes burn pits as a way disposing of trash and human waste,' she said. 'These pits create a smog cloud in the vicinity of Camp Lemonnier, making it difficult to breathe and requiring medical treatment for the officers, who have experienced throat irritation.'
Harper said that military resources are being used for the detainees' care, causing disruptions at the base. 'DOD operators have expressed frustration, particularly about the proximity to DOD quarters of aliens with violent criminal records,' she revealed. 'ICE medical staff has also received limited medication and medical supplies for both officers and the aliens from DOD.'
'It is unknown how long the medical supply will last.'
Additionally, Harper said that within 72 hours of landing in Djibouti, both the ICE agents and detainees began suffering from unidentified illnesses. 'ICE officers continue to feel ill with symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, and achy joints. These symptoms align with bacterial upper respiratory infection, but ICE officers are unable to obtain proper testing for a diagnosis,' she said.
Harper said the medical staff did not have immediate access to the medications necessary to treat the sicknesses.
'Our flight nurse has since been able to obtain some but not all of what is necessary for the proper care and safety of both the officers and the detainees. It is unknown how long the medical supply will last,' she said in the sworn declaration.
ICE failed to provide a more detailed accounting of the health status of the eight detainees.
'We continue to be concerned about the health and safety of the men who are being subjected to these conditions,' said Realmuto.