“WE SLEPT LIKE SARDINES”: Confession of a Serbian truck driver who spent six weeks in ICE detention!

When on that September day, under the hot Texan sun, Milan* loaded goods into his truck and headed along the Gulf of Mexico coast toward the US interior, he could not have guessed that his journey would end prematurely in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.

This truck driver, originally from Serbia, became one in a series of people detained by ICE as part of the implementation of the rigorous anti-immigration policy of Donald Trump’s presidential administration.

He spent about six weeks in detention, was released on bail with the obligation to wear an ankle monitor, and tells BBC in Serbian that he received permission to work again and that his next hearing is scheduled for March 2027.

He points out that he entered America legally with a visa three years ago, that he subsequently requested asylum in 2023, and is waiting for the resolution of that request.

“I have calmed down now”

“When they detain you, the worst thing is that you don’t know what is happening, where they are taking you, how long you will be locked up, whether they will send you home,” Milan says to the BBC while waiting to load cargo in Philadelphia, a city in the state of Pennsylvania.

More than 65,000 people are in ICE detention centers, according to data from the TRAC research center at Syracuse University from mid-November.

The BBC contacted ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security seeking exact data on the number of detainees and their citizenships.

According to US regulations, ICE had a legal basis to detain non-citizens who are in the asylum process, which has been a frequent occurrence in recent months since the administration tightened migration policy, Miroljub Đukić, an immigration lawyer from Chicago, tells BBC in Serbian.

“They had the legal right to detain him because there is a difference between legal presence and legal status.

“He does not have legal status because his asylum request has not yet been resolved, but he has a legal presence and based on that, he possesses a work permit,” the lawyer says.

No previous presidential administration has applied the law this rigorously, he adds.

‘They separate men to one side, women to the other’

Border patrol checkpoints are not a rare occurrence in states in the southern US, and until the moment of his detention, Milan had passed them without difficulty.

But on that fateful day, he saw the signs along road I-69.

“I was in contact with colleagues, I saw a long column, moving slowly, and I saw that something was wrong here because it usually goes much faster,” Milan says.

Until then, they would let him go when he told them he was not a citizen but had a valid work permit.

“This time, the officer’s facial expression changed when I told him about my documents and status, and he just sent me to park the truck on the side,” he adds.

In those moments, optimism still held him, because he believed they would release him after the check, he says.

But hope began to fade when they led him into a room where he first gave fingerprints, and then saw dozens of people waiting for further steps.

“I saw a woman with two daughters, they left them in the car, detained the mother… She only asked to say goodbye to her daughters, the police brought them inside, everyone was crying.

“I also noticed a married couple with a daughter, she seemed to be seven or eight years old.

“They separated them, men in one room, the woman and child in another,” Milan describes.

Before they took his phone, he managed to briefly contact the owner of the Chicago firm he works for, explain what happened, and ask him to hire a lawyer.

‘Slept like sardines’

A few hours after he was detained, Milan was transferred by van with 11 other people to a border police facility in the city of McAllen in southeast Texas.

The officers did not tell them where they were going, but he points out that he recognized the road he had driven many times before in his own truck.

“It was a facility with four rooms, 10 by 10 meters, they were packed, 50 people in each.

“No windows, some kind of ventilation on the ceiling, and in the middle, a guard on a platform supervising all four rooms,” Milan describes with a mixture of anger and disbelief in his voice.

Since the stricter implementation of anti-immigration policy began in the US, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has found itself targeted by accusations of poor hygiene and health conditions in detention centers.

BBC in Serbian wrote to ICE and the Border Patrol, but by the time of publication, it had not received answers regarding the hygiene standards in their facilities.

“We had two toilets and one sink in the room, but we slept on mats, like sardines.

“They gave us three meals a day – a sandwich, possibly an apple and some biscuits or chips.

“No one tells you anything, they take us outside once a day so they can clean the room,” Milan recalls.

After two days in McAllen, he was transferred with a few other detainees 82 kilometers east, to the ICE facility in Port Isabel on the very coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

He only found that out when he arrived there.

Uniforms, tablets, and barcodes

ICE in Texas has at least 11 centers where it detains people it claims do not have regulated status in the United States, according to data from the DHS website.

ICE is responsible for managing these centers, but often signs contracts with private companies that take over that task.

“It didn’t look like a classic prison, it felt more like a barracks – four large rooms, a surveillance room with cameras and a guard in the middle.

“There were 75 people in the room, bunk beds, there’s a toilet and a shower, that’s also where we eat,” Milan says.

With a smile, he recalls how, as in American movies, he received prison clothing.

“They took everything of mine, gave me three t-shirts, three pairs of underwear, two sweatshirts, and two pairs of pants, blue in color,” he describes.

He describes the detainee menu as unseasoned and tasteless, along with ‘fake’ – vegetarian – hamburgers, “seven-day-old fries,” and packets of ketchup and mustard.

Technological progress, however, did not bypass the prisons, so they received bracelets and cards with barcodes, which the guards scanned when distributing food and counting those present.

Hygiene conditions, however, are not progressing as fast as technology.

“In the room, we had four showers and sinks, as well as five toilet bowls. We organized ourselves, so three bowls were for ‘number two’ and two were for ‘number one’,” he adds.

The majority of detainees in that facility were people from South America, and there were also people from Sudan and Afghanistan.

No one from the Balkans except Milan.

“They divided us into four sectors – Alpha, Beta, Charlie, and Delta.

“I was in the Delta sector, mostly workers, and none of us caused problems,” he says.

They spent time playing chess, dominoes, and Monopoly, and occasionally they brought them a Sony PlayStation console.

They were taken into the yard almost every day, for half an hour or 45 minutes.

“We had tablets and wall phones for communication with the outside world.

“On the tablet, in their online store, you could order snacks, sweets, and noodles.

“And then I realized that even in this way, they earn money off you,” he emphasizes.

The battle for bail

Very soon after he was detained, the company Milan worked for found him a lawyer, and the legal battle for his release began.

His defense attorney’s tactic was to seek release on bail.

“During one of the first conversations, the boss of the firm told me it would be a jackpot if I got out in two weeks.”

And so it was.

He had to go through two hearings, as the judge requested that the woman who was his guarantor provide the court with additional documents regarding her own tax obligations.

“It was hard for me when they returned me to the detention center after the first hearing and said the next hearing was in two weeks – and I had already ‘set’ my mind that I was getting out,” Milan admits.

At the second hearing, the judge agreed to release him on a $15,000 bail.

But the slowness of bureaucracy is not a characteristic only of some countries in Europe, as was shown immediately after the judge’s decision.

“We waited 24 hours for ICE to approve it, so, for example, we paid on Friday, then we waited the whole weekend for the payment to go through.

“On Monday afternoon they got the green light to release me, but since it was late, they released me the next morning,” the truck driver from Serbia summarizes.

Shackles, pizza, and a priest

After almost a month in detention, the hour came for Milan to be set free.

But that act did not pass without a cinematic detail.

“They put ‘shackles’ on our legs – I asked the guard: ‘Why are you letting us out like this, we didn’t kill anyone’.

“The answer was that it was according to protocol, for our safety,” he says.

Finally, as a free man, he got out after a 45-minute van ride – at a bus station in the city of Brownsville, another place near the border with Mexico.

“Volunteers met us at the station to charge our phones and help us organize flights.

“There was even a priest who brought us pizza,” Milan says.

While waiting to charge his phone and eat something, he met a guy from the African country of Niger, also a truck driver who ended up in detention.

He had come to the US 10 years ago and requested asylum.

“Together we went to Dallas, and from there he went to North Carolina, and I went to Illinois.”

During detention, Milan says it was hardest for him “when he thought about his family” who are in Serbia.

“I know they need me, we talk often and now that was gone, and that moment was quite difficult for me.

“And then another thought strikes me – I’m not going to lie in prison without a real reason. Forget it, just send me home…”.

What does the Serbian consulate say?

In early October, during an action against illegal immigrants in the US, 37 truck drivers who are citizens of Serbia were arrested in road raids across the US.

Most of them were arrested on roads in Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, and Michigan.

According to estimates by the Serbian consulate in Chicago, “between 200 and 300 thousand people of Serbian origin” live in the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, consul Marko Nikolić tells BBC in Serbian.

“By the end of October, 10 Serbian citizens contacted the consulate in Chicago.

“Two have been deported, four are waiting for deportation, and three are in criminal proceedings,” he explains.

The consulate is in constant communication with regional ICE offices and inquires about the conditions and state of the detainees.

However, in accordance with international conventions, it has no right to influence the course and decisions of American authorities.

“The current situation is not pleasant for the Serbian community in Chicago and the surrounding area, especially for young family people who came to America to make a living,” Nikolić points out.

The consulate in Chicago covers 28 states – from the Midwest to the Pacific.

Ankle monitor and the return to the truck

Milan’s next appearance before a judge is scheduled for – March 24, 2027.

Upon returning to Chicago, he had to report to the local ICE office, where an ankle monitor (a tracking device on the ankle) was placed on him and he was told he could drive a truck again, but only in three states – Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

“Quite angrily, I asked the ICE officer how I am supposed to work and pay for an apartment and send money to my family if they restrict where I can drive.

“Only when I brought the contract from the firm and a cover letter did they write in my file that I am allowed to drive in all states,” he says.

As we finish the conversation, truck engines and the beeping of alarms warning drivers of obstacles while parking can be heard in the background.

The goods are ready – Milan can start a new driving tour.

But not without a dose of anxiety.

“Since I started driving again, no one has even stopped me, and I hope they won’t.

“Still, nothing can surprise me,” he concludes.

*The name of the interlocutor was changed at his request.