Hunger Strikes in ICE Detention are Ramping Up from Coast to Coast

Trump's cruel mass detention expansion is exacerbating the inhumane conditions that are inherent to ICE’s detention system and have been well documented for decades. Over the past year, there have been increasing reports of death, medical neglect, use of force, isolation, retaliation, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers that cut people off from their loved ones and support networks. A shocking 18 people have died in ICE custody this calendar year — and 49 people total have died under this administration.

This past weekend, due to pressure from local organizers, New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, Rep. LaMonica McIver, Rep. Analilia Mejia, and Gov. Mikie Sherrill joined dozens of community members at Delaney Hall in solidarity with the detained hunger strikers, and demanded the facility shut down. In response, ICE reportedly sent an armored vehicle and armed agents, spraying pepper balls and tear gas at the crowd.

People on hunger strike in Adelanto and Delaney Hall are demanding that ICE release all people detained immediately, including the elderly, young people, and people with medical conditions, and shut down these facilities for good. Detained people at Delaney Hall are also demanding an immediate meeting with Governor Mikie Sherrill so she can witness conditions firsthand and hear directly from those detained.

Advocates issued the following statements:

Esmeralda Santos, with the Shut Down Adelanto Coalition, said: “We stand in unwavering solidarity with the hunger and labor strikers at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Desert View Annex. For years, immigrants detained in these facilities have endured a deeply troubling pattern of abuse, neglect, and dehumanization at the hands of ICE and GEO Group. Again and again, detained immigrants have risked retaliation to speak out against medical neglect, isolation from their loved ones and legal counsel, the use of solitary confinement, abusive policies, and conditions that endanger human life and dignity. Their courage in the face of systemic mistreatment demands not only recognition, but action. We call on ICE and GEO Group to immediately address these longstanding injustices and end the inhumane conditions that have persisted inside Adelanto and Desert View Annex for far too long.”

Kathy O'Leary, New Jersey region coordinator at Pax Christi and member of the Eyes on ICE New Jersey Coalition, said: “The people in ICE detention at Delaney Hall let us know that they were organizing inside right after Sen. Booker’s oversight visit at the end of January when they shared a letter they had written to give to him. The hunger and labor strike that they are engaging in is both a continuation of that initial organizing and an escalation in tactics. They have found a way to mobilize both across units and with the outside to have their demands for their freedom to be heard by our legislators. These are our neighbors who are crying out for our governor to listen to them, for the teenagers, elderly and medically infirm people to be released and ultimately for everyone's freedom. I beg you, I implore you to hear their cries.”

From the hunger strikers’ own words:

* 1st letter: http://lahuelga.com/elgrito
* 2nd letter: http://lahuelga.com/sos
* Demands: https://www.instagram.com/p/DY1HYd7sDR3/

Nanci Palacios Godinez, Membership and Organizing Director at Detention Watch Network said: “The hunger strikers at Adelanto and Delaney Hall are bravely calling attention to a long-known truth: Immigration detention as a whole is unnecessary, rife with systemic abuses and completely arbitrary – full stop. People in immigration detention are describing it as ‘hell on earth’ because it is. ICE’s immigrant detention system deprives people of freedom, isolates people away from loved ones, and subjects people to abysmal conditions, including inadequate medical care and mental health services, inedible food, and racist abuse. What we’re seeing now is a heightened degree of cruelty as Trump will stop at nothing to dehumanize and vilify immigrants. No one should suffer in these conditions. Immigrants are our family members, neighbors, friends, and coworkers – worthy of dignity and respect regardless of where they came from or how they arrived in the U.S.”


https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/releases/2026/hunger-strikes-ice-detention-are-ramping-up-coast-coast