Family is worried about their health deteriorating due to conditions in detention centers
A 79-year-old man detained by immigration agents in Florida, after living in the USA for more than seven decades since being born in a refugee camp in Germany, will appear before a judge this Tuesday.
His family is worried about his deteriorating health due to conditions in detention centers, Efe news agency reported.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Paul John Bojerski, a Polish resident of Sanford, in late October during a mandatory hearing in Orlando.
Bojerski, who legally immigrated to the US with his family in 1952 at the age of five, was born in a refugee camp in Germany at the end of World War II, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
This man, who does not have US citizenship, has a criminal record that includes convictions for crimes committed in the 1960s and 70s, resulting in a deportation order that authorities had previously ignored.
In July, Bojerski appeared at an ICE office in Florida as usual, where he was told that if he did not leave the country voluntarily, he would be deported.
He was asked to return on October 30 with travel plans, but was unable to do so because he has no passport or country to return to, according to his family.
In late October, he was detained and transported on an eight-hour trip to Alligator Alcatraz, a detention center west of Miami in the middle of the Everglades, a place that immigration activists have criticized for its inhumane conditions since its opening in July.
His family alerted authorities to his poor health. He used to walk without assistance, but now uses a wheelchair. He lost access to his regular treatment after back surgery, and reports indicate that he fell out of his chair and lay on the floor of his cell for hours.
Bojerski is now in the Krome Detention Center in Miami, where he has a bond hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Former inmates have already denounced the poor quality of food at Alcatraz, the lack of medical assistance, water and basic sanitation, the mosquito infestation and the long waits for communication with the outside world.
