The reports of how bad ICE personnel have it in Djibouti come from Melissa Harper (see link below), in a federal court filing issued Thursday. There might be a chance, just an itty-bitty chance, that she's exaggerating or spinning the story, in an attempt to influence the court.
Keep in mind that the sailors stationed there are dealing with the exact same environmental conditions she's describing, on a daily basis.
Also, it sounds like ICE had the option to return to the U.S. instead.
From the Washington Post, which is the Daily Beast's source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/06/05/djibouti-deportations-migrants-ice-trump
[...]
Trump officials could have flown the immigrants back to the United States. Instead, they were taken to Djibouti, where in late May officers turned a Conex container into a makeshift detention facility on U.S. Naval Base Camp Lemonnier, according to Mellissa Harper, a top ICE official, who detailed the conditions Thursday in a required status update to the judge.
[...]
While Djibouti is one of the hottest inhabited places on earth, a Navy guide to Camp Lemonnier says it has air conditioning, WiFi, a Pizza Hut, a Planet Smoothie, and a medical clinic. It also has a movie theater, a restaurant called “Combat Cafe,” a gym and a swimming pool.
But Harper wrote that the officers and detainees staying in the shipping container have not had access to basic necessities. Officers and detainees began to suffer symptoms of a bacterial upper respiratory infection soon after deplaning, including “coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, and achy joints.”
[...]
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https://www.propublica.org/article/immigration-children-ice-office-refugee-resettlement-mellissa-harper
ICE Enforcement Official Tapped to Lead Unaccompanied Migrant Children Office, Triggering Alarms
ICE official Mellissa Harper has been tapped to lead the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Her hire has concerned experts and advocates that information about children and their families could be shared for arrests and deportations.
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