By The Diary
Sep 24, 2024, 01:31 AM EDT
Eighty immigrants who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have started a hunger strike to denounce the constant abuses in California prisons, which are run by private companies, reported the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ).
The hunger strike began on Sunday with 70 immigrants at the ICE detention centers Golden State Annex in McFarland and Desert View Annex in Adelanto. On Monday, ten more people detained at McFarland joined the protest, EFE reported.
ICE under pressure to terminate contracts with private operators
The strike follows other protests that have recently begun as part of a push for ICE to terminate its contracts with private operators, which immigrants and their advocates accuse of a series of abuses and negligence in their treatment of detainees.
People who have been detained at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center have recently participated in several protests to denounce mistreatment by staff.
“I am on a hunger strike for the third time because I want ICE and those in authority to make a difference and I don’t see them doing anything,” Jonathan Montes, who has been held in the Golden State prison for about 15 months, said in a statement, EFE reported.
Montes also said she has seen friends fall ill without proper treatment and be transferred out of state “as punishment for standing up for what is right.”
“Brutal ICE retaliation”
Since last July, detainees in Golden State and Mesa Verde have engaged in a series of labor and hunger strikes reminiscent of initiatives taken in 2022 and 2023 that “were halted following brutal ICE retaliation, including solitary confinement, extreme force, out-of-state transfers, and threats of force-feeding,” CCIJ noted.
The same news agency reported that the strikers have requested a meeting with ICE executives in California and the GEO company, which manages the prisons.
They hope to generate real change
Carlos Vazquez, who has been detained at Desert View for nearly 20 months and is currently on a hunger strike, said in the statement that he hopes the move will help create “a dialogue” with officials and “bring about real change and stop the injustice that is deeply rooted in these detention centers.”
Advocates tracking violations in Golden State and Mesa Verde have received reports of nearly 800 violations since July 1 of this year.
The strikers’ demands include an end to retaliation and isolation of detainees, as well as ensuring adequate medical care, mental health care and food.
With information from EFE
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