Dozens of detained immigrants who have been hunger striking over harmful conditions at a privately operated prison in Washington state say that they are “for now” halting their protest, after federal immigration officials agreed to make changes, local affiliate KUOW reports.
Local advocates said that more than 80 detained immigrants had been peacefully demonstrating at GEO Group’s Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma since last week, over issues including excessive punishment, inadequate medical care, and poor food quality. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials “have promised to improve conditions,” but demonstrators said they will resume the hunger strike if promises are not kept, KIOW continued. One detainee remains on strike.
"I won't stop until I see results," Jose Hernandez said in the report. "This isn’t just about me, it is about everyone."
RELATED STORY: California regulators fine GEO Group over $100,000 following complaints from detained immigrants
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Despite the nonviolent demonstration at NWIPC, La Resistencia told KUOW that a number of participants where thrown into solitary confinement, which is torture. Then, The Seattle Times reported a shocking incident this week where guards launched chemical agents against a number of detainees over illegal contraband that was allegedly found in a unit, an ICE spokesperson claimed.
“Maru Mora Villalpando, of the group La Resistencia, which closely follows conditions at the detention center, said Wednesday’s confrontation marked the first time she’s heard of chemical agents being used at the facility, though there have been reports of tear gas used at other immigrant detention centers,” The Seattle Times continued.
But chemical attacks against migrants in ICE custody have indeed been confirmed by government investigators and other reporting. When people at CoreCivic’s La Palma Correctional Center in Arizona peacefully protested conditions amid COVID-19 outbreaks at their facility, guards deployed chemical agents against them, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said in March 2021.
In surveillance photos released by investigators, a dozen officers in riot gear could be seen surrounding a small group of men crouching for cover on the floor. In fact, there was a major increase in force against detained migrants following the onset of the pandemic, including use of pepper spray and pepper balls, resulting in one man temporarily losing sight in one eye following a violent incident at the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility in California. He was later deported, BuzzFeed News said.
Detained immigrants at NWIPC want to see a number of changes in addition to improved medical care, including sufficient clothing and bedding, elimination of black mold, access to clean water, and access to soap and towels. These are not luxuries—they’re a matter of basic human dignity.
Yet in another example of abuses within immigration detention, GEO Group and ICE endangered the lives of migrants by misusing a toxic chemical used to clean surfaces at the NWIPC facility. The Environmental Protection Agency said in a 2021 letter that the private prison profiteer was “in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for using a pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling,” noting that numerous detainees “have complained of sore throats and headaches.” Since then GEO Group has been fined more than $100,000 over violations at a California facility.
"They treat us badly, they don’t clean, and the other day they pepper sprayed a bunch of us, including sick people," one detainee in Washington told La Resistencia, KUOW said. "They don’t care about us and it isn’t right. What they’re saying in the news are lies. Nobody was resisting them, we are just trying to be peaceful.”
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