Families in US immigration detention with pending trafficking-related claims report escalating pressure to abandon legal protections and accept deportation. Throughout this year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used threats of family separation, criminal prosecution, and prolonged detention to force compliance. As detention numbers rise and the administration pushes to meet aggressive deportation targets, trafficking survivors say they no longer feel safe asserting their rights.

Trafficking survivors face coercive pressure in detention

Kelly and Yerson Vargas entered the United States with their six-year-old daughter after fleeing forced labor and death threats from cartel members in Mexico. They filed visa applications as trafficking victims. Yet, ICE sent the family a deportation order and pressured them to board flights to Colombia.

Reuters reports,

They had resisted because they had submitted visa applications as victims of human trafficking, saying they faced forced labor and death threats from cartel members in Mexico as they transited to the U.S.

However, while detained in Texas, an officer warned them that resisting a deportation order could lead to federal charges and up to ten years in prison. At the same time, the warning included the risk that their daughter would be taken into government custody.

Ultimately, facing the threat of jail and separation, they abandoned their applications and accepted deportation.

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