8 JUNE 15-21, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | 3201 RICKENBACKER CAUSEWAY KEY BISCAYNE, FL | 305.361.3818 WWW.THERUSTYPELICAN.COM BE SOCIAL WITH US! FIND US ON HAPPY HOUR miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | While Green was incarcerated, his wife gave birth to their second child, a son, who is now six years old and whom he has never met, his wife says. In May 2021, when his sen- tence was completed, Green’s U.S. residency was revoked and he was transferred to an im- migration detention facility in Kansas City, Missouri, according to court documents and an ICE spokesperson. Later that year, in No- vember, an immigration judge issued a final order of removal. “Obviously, he committed a serious crime,” Shamaya Green says. “But aside from that, his record was clean and we were hop- ing he would get a waiver that he was eligible for. He did his time, and he doesn’t deserve what he’s going through now.” Withering Away During his time in ICE custody, guards broke Green’s prosthetic leg when he was trans- ferred to another ICE jail in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, before being sent to Krome in Florida, according to Matthew Hoppock, a Shawnee, Kansas-based immigration attor- ney handling Green’s appeal to reopen his im- migration case. The appeal, filed last year, claims that the Jamaican-American detainee’s previous counsel failed to explore a Convention Against Torture application that might allow Green to remain stateside. Green had grounds to file the application as he feared his co-defendants who had already been de- ported to Jamaica would torture him because they believed he cooperated with prosecu- tors, the appeal states. Since damaging his prosthetic leg, ICE agents have not provided him with a new one and he has been using a wheelchair to move around for more than a year, Hoppock claims. “This is complicated by heart prob- lems and diabetes that cause swelling,” the lawyer tells New Times. “It’s gotten worse since arriving at Krome, where he is having serious health issues.” On December 13, Kate Sugarman, a physician with Unity Health Care, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for medical care on behalf of homeless people and inmates, sent a letter to Katrina Gutierrez, ICE’s supervisory detention and deportation officer, advocating for Green’s release. “Based on the severity of Garfield Green’s medical conditions, it is imperative that he remain in the United States to receive adequate medical treatment,” Sugarman wrote. “If Garfield Green were to be removed to Jamaica, there is an increased risk of death due to the high likelihood that he will be unable to receive adequate medical care.” While she had not personally diagnosed Green, she had reviewed his voluminous medical file, Sugarman wrote. “The healthcare provided at Krome, like other immigration detention facilities, is in- adequate and raises concerns about safety,” Sugarman wrote. “These conclusions are supported by numerous governmental, non- governmental, and investigative reports over the past decade.” In 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Americans for Immigrant Justice re- leased a 104-page report about Krome and three other immigration detention facilities in Florida that documented “substandard conditions” such as failing to provide ade- quate medical and mental health care, dis- crimination against people with disabilities, and unnecessary uses of solitary confinement as a form of punishment. In Garfield’s case, his diabetes is being poorly managed at Krome, which has “low- level medical professionals unqualified or un- derqualified for the care they are responsible to provide,” Sugarman wrote. For instance, he complained that Krome’s medical staffers have tried to inject him with the wrong type of insulin and that he is not getting a proper diet to manage his di- abetes. The medical records also showed numerous instances of Green developing sores and other wounds caused by inadequate access to timely medical care and monitoring, Sugarman wrote. The physician also noted that guards had put Green in solitary confinement because he had refused to eat his jail food and had participated in a hunger strike. This punishment was likely to exacerbate his “mild depression” and it “put him at risk of death,” Sugarman wrote. The ICE spokesperson declined to com- ment about Sugarman’s letter and the allega- tions made by his wife. Instead, the spokesperson sent a response that stated: “His case has had full judicial review. Mr. Green will remain in custody pending his re- moval from the country.” “Playing Games with His Health” Since the beginning of the year, Green has been repeatedly transported to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, formerly Kendall Regional Medical Center, for emergency medical care, Shamaya Green says. During one of those trips, doctors had to perform emergency sur- gery to remove blood clots from his left leg, she says. “It was turning black and there was a pos- sibility that they would have to amputate it,” Shamaya says. “But they didn’t allow him to stay long enough to recuperate and get the treatment he needs.” During another emergency trip, doctors placed a cardiac monitor around his chest be- cause he was passing out from what was diag- nosed as a lack of blood flow from his heart to his brain, his wife says. Last month, during one of their regular conversations, he com- plained about being out of breath. “I thought he was going to die that night,” she says. “The medical staff wasn’t coming back until the next morning, and they told him he would have to wait.” Shamaya claims she called 911 to have first responders take her husband back to the hos- pital. “They know he has heart issues and he has trouble breathing,” she says. “He’s told me that he feels like taking his life,” Shamaya says. “They are playing games with his health. And they keep telling him that they are going to put him on a plane.” [email protected] “IF GARFIELD GREEN WERE TO BE REMOVED TO JAMAICA, THERE IS AN INCREASED RISK OF DEATH.” Cruel But Not Unusual from p6
