Reports on Friday said that approximately 1,200 people being held at the nation’s largest immigration prison, located in Tacoma, Wash., began a hunger strike and work stoppage to protest the deportations of illegal immigrants and the inhumane conditions at the facility.
Officials at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency confirmed the hunger strike on Saturday, but said that only 750 detainees had refused meals. Supporters of the hunger strikers estimated that closer to 1,200 detainees were participating.
ICE said those participating in the strike at the Northwest Detention Center are under “continuous observation” and that “ICE fully respects the rights of all people to express their opinion without interference.”
The hunger strike was reportedly inspired by the actions immigration reform advocates have taken in recent weeks in the hope that President Obama signs an executive order halting deportations.
So far, the Obama administration has deported more immigrants than any other administration, with about 2,000,000 deportations occurring in the past six years or so. Advocates say that has led to a crisis for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants and their families living in the U.S. and have dubbed Obama the “Deporter-in-Chief.”
In addition to a halt on deportations, the detainees are also demanding that the GEO Group, which owns the facility, improve conditions there. They have specifically asked for improvements to both the quality of food and medical treatment, and that detainees be paid more than $1 per day for their work, among other demands.
Owned and operated by the GEO Group, one of the largest for-profit prison companies in the U.S., the Northwest Detention Center is a “combination minimum-, medium- and maximum-security facility.”
Detainees at the facility are those who are under investigation and will likely be deported to their country of origin. The strike began on a Friday, since Maru Mora Villalpando, founder of Latino Advocacy, said that Friday is when the detention center guards segregate the detainees based on who will be deported on Monday and who will remain at the facility.
Villalpando said that the detainees were encouraged to conduct a hunger strike of their own after they learned that immigration reform advocates had conducted protests and hunger strikes outside the facility’s gates and would sometimes attempt to block deportation vans from leaving the facility.
“People will be coming every day from noon to 4 p.m. until Tuesday to show their support with the 1,200 immigrants,” said Villalpando.
He accused GEO of exploiting the detainees by paying them $1 for kitchen and janitorial work.
“It’s just ironic that the government is detaining people for working without a social security number; meanwhile, they allow this company to exploit their labor,” said Villalpando .
GEO lobbied Congress last year on immigration reform issues, arguing that detaining illegal immigrants should continue to be a U.S. practice. The organization has not responded to media requests for comment since news of the hunger strike broke.
Though this particular hunger strike was only scheduled to last until Tuesday, March 11, there will be another hunger strike and sit-ins throughout the U.S. on April 5 — a day immigration reform advocates are calling “All Out in the Streets.”