A private security officer at a Texas ICE detention center has been federally charged after allegedly choking a handcuffed detainee.
Charles Siringi, 66, faces charges of deprivation of rights under color of law resulting in bodily injury stemming from a March 31 incident at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.
Related posts
According to a federal complaint obtained by The Washington Post, Siringi allegedly wrapped his hands around the detainee’s neck, slammed him into a wall, and continued choking him until the man gasped for air. A fellow officer, Elbert Griffin, who witnessed the incident, took the detainee to the medical unit and later reported that the force used was unnecessary and that the detainee had not resisted.
Siringi worked for GEO Group, the private company running the facility. He was released on $10,000 bail. GEO terminated his employment on April 29 and reported the matter to ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy with respect to staff misconduct,” the company stated to The Post.
Criminal charges against detention officers are uncommon.
“The power dynamic is so significant that people are either afraid to come forth or they are not believed when they raise complaints about abusive treatment,” said Eunice Hyunhye Cho of the ACLU’s National Prison Project.
This incident follows a series of disturbing reports from ICE facilities across the country.
Earlier this month, two immigrant rights groups filed a federal class action lawsuit against ICE, accusing officials of unconstitutional conditions at the George Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore. The lawsuit says two women were detained in holding rooms for 48 and 60 hours—well beyond the 12-hour legal limit—without access to beds, showers, or sufficient food. A Senate staff inspection confirmed the allegations.
Meanwhile, concerns have grown over the deaths of four detainees in Florida ICE custody since December 2024. One case involved a Ukrainian refugee who died from a stroke after emergency care was reportedly delayed at the Krome North Service Processing Center. In another, a Honduran man died after seizures and questionable drug treatment.
Advocates argue these cases reveal systemic problems in ICE detention oversight.
“A lot of people don’t realize how common that actually is,” said Jeff Migliozzi of Freedom for Immigrants. “In the vast majority of those cases, nothing results.”
