Can Process Violations Spark Fierce Hunger Strikes in ICE Facilities Nationwide?

Mounting institutional grievances and inhumane treatment drive detainees to extreme measures as oversight demands grow.

An explosion of non-violent protests has erupted at the immigration holding facilities, in which people have been forced to go on hunger strike due to process violations. The CIO Bulletin has reported that the detainees in many of the immigration facilities of the country are staging hunger strikes because they demand respect as human beings.

These hunger strikes indicate the process violations in the immigration enforcement process of the country. People being held in these facilities say that they are being kept there for weeks without any court date. Moreover, the detainees say that they are not getting any proper medical care and the facilities are ignoring their needs.

Speaking on the worsening conditions, Legal Advocate Maria Gomez noted, "Detainees are choosing to starve themselves simply to be heard, exposing how deep process violations have corrupted basic human rights inside these institutions."

What drives vulnerable individuals to risk their health and survival inside federal facilities? Consequences of the system’s slowness, lack of access to legal help, and overcrowding have brought about an unbearable atmosphere, where hunger strikes are the only tool of protest available. It has been found that facility management regularly ignores the process of filing complaints, which leaves those who are held in detention facilities without any other way to ask for proper medical treatment.

Organizations promoting legal reforms and fighting for civil rights have increased the level of public pressure put upon federal officials, and now they are calling for independent audits and policy changes. According to CIO Bulletin, as the level of public interest increases, the immigration authorities are finding themselves under unprecedented pressure to fix systemic violations of operational standards, constitutional requirements and, to respect the human dignity of each individual being held at the facilities. Apart from the national public campaign, local communities and legal help organizations have launched nationwide monitoring of conditions at detention facilities and are providing assistance to the victims’ families.