On a commercial plane filled with around 80 ICE detainees, a row of Latinos shackled by the hands and feets were approached by one of a few dozen armed guards. Dressed in full tactical gear and strapped with a rifle, the guard gave them a puzzled look and asked, “What are you doing on this flight? They don’t sell baleadas in Africa.”
The four Cubans, an Ecuadorian, and an Hondureño looked back and forth at each other with a concerned giggle before replying to the agent, “Africa? You’re joking, right?”
That’s when the agent confirmed, to their shock, that they were indeed all headed to Africa. Unable to believe it, they were forced to process this information on their own, as the guards would not allow them to speak to each other for the rest of the ride. They could barely scratch their own noses or go to the bathroom. At this point, they had been in shackles for almost 36 hours.