News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Mar. 30, 2022: A leaked video from the LaSalle Correctional Center in Louisiana is showing first hand the abuse black immigrant have been forced to endure in detention centers in the U.S.
In a video obtained by Insider, Cameroon immigrant Brandon is seen walking down a hallway and being followed by three guards. As he approaches the camera, one of the guards grabs him by the shoulder and pushes him against the wall. In the next few seconds, they ram his head into the wall, put him in a chokehold, spin him around, throw him to the floor, and pin him down. One of the guards briefly puts his knee on Brandon’s neck. With the guards dog-piled on top of him, he felt like he was fighting to survive: “I was struggling to breathe. I couldn’t move. I was feeling so weak.”
Six guards from the LaSalle Detention Center, which is privately run by LaSalle Corrections, kept Brandon pinned to the floor as one of them slapped handcuffs on him. They then yanked him to his feet and pushed him back against the wall. “Why are you treating me like I’m not a human being?” Brandon recalled asking them.
After the guards tackled him, Brandon was thrown into a solitary confinement cell, where he remained for three days.
Brandon suspected bias was at work when the guard shoved him against the wall. “He was doing it because I was Black and from Africa,” Brandon said.
Months later, after two transfers, Brandon was finally released from detention and allowed to continue pressing his asylum case while out on bond.
In the summer of 2021, Brandon was released from detention. With Black people disproportionately being denied asylum, he knows the odds are stacked against him, but he is still fighting for his claim.
His next court hearing isn’t for another 18 months. During the wait, he is living with a cousin and spending his time helping around the house. Despite repeated requests, he has yet to receive his work permit. Though he is free, for now, his memory of what happened to him still stings. At the same time, the anxiety of what may happen if he is deported, makes it hard to exercise and enjoy that freedom.
Read more from this Insider story HERE
