ADVERTISEMENTs
ICE is knocking
ICE has been instructed to arrest at least 1,200-1,500 people per day.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building stands in Washington, D.C., U.S. January 18, 2025. / REUTERS/Vincent Alban/File Photo
Randhir Singh went on a hunger strike for two years in the ICE detention center in Tacoma.
Maru Mora-Villalpando, immigration immigration activist with the group La Resistencia and CEO of Latino Advocacy who has been on the front lines of detainees holding hunger strikes to protest squalid and difficult conditions in detention centers, spoke at an Ethnic Media Services briefing, shared details on the conditions the detainees are held under by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The largest group in detention that we have seen, at least in Tacoma, is people from India.”
More than 200,000 people believed to be undocumented have been arrested over the past 30 days, according to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least 8,000 people have been deported.
Death in neglected detention centers
The private prison company, GEO, that operates the immigration facility has detainees living in abysmal conditions.
Detainee Charles D O’Daniel died after four years in isolated segregation. He died all alone, by himself in the isolation unit.
Jose Sanchez Castro died in medical isolation. He was put in medical isolation without any kind of follow up on his fentanyl withdrawal. He died five days later.
“There are supposed to be basic rights for people in detention,” said Mora-Villalpando. For nearly 11 years, La Resistencia, a grassroots organization in Tacoma, Washington, has been advocating for the rights of detained immigrants. The group was formed in response to a massive hunger strike in March 2014, when over 1,200 people in the Northwest ICE Processing Center (formerly known as the Tacoma Detention Center) refused to eat in protest of inhumane conditions.
“Since then, we work directly with people in detention, in the Tacoma detention center and their loved ones,” said Mora-Villalpando.
There are all different people from all different backgrounds, she said, They are largely poor and people of color. “We have seen a large group of people from India coming in the past two years.”
Detainees at the Tacoma facility have consistently raised the same demands: terrible food; dirty and unwashed clothing; and inadequate medical care. Bad hygiene and medical isolation have led to worsening health conditions. Detainees are denied minimum wage when they work to keep facilities clean.
“GEO refuses to actually pay what they should pay to keep the place clean because their bottom line is profit. Due to that we have also seen an increase in illnesses, especially infectious diseases. Last month, we saw a varicella outbreak and right now there's another COVID outbreak. There's at least one unit in quarantine.”
No channel for grievance addressal
With ICE now relying on digital tablets for complaints, detainees unfamiliar with the technology or who do not speak English face additional barriers in filing grievances.
“There was a report from the inspector general in 2023, that acknowledges the fact that the grievance system doesn't work. And that is one of the many reasons why people go on hunger strike.”
When people express their anger there is immediate retaliation either by separating them from the units, or sending them to solitary confinement. Sometimes transferring to other places or immediate deportation.
Randhir Singh was recently deported. “We assumed he was on that military flight to India,” said Mora-Villalpando.
ICE says it's currently at 109 percent capacity. “We're not certain whether they have reached capacity because there's not that many detentions as they promised they would. ICE changes the timestamp on their press releases on their website to appear as they just happened, right? Which they didn't. And we're in touch with many other groups like ours, checking on what's going on in our cities. And we haven't seen the mass rates that they promised.”
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
E Paper
ADVERTISEMENT
.jpg)
Video
.png)
.jpeg)
.png)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
.png)
.jpeg)
.png)
Comments
Start the conversation
Become a member of New India Abroad to start commenting.
Sign Up Now
Already have an account? Login