Hunger, labour strikes at US immigration detention centres

Pax Christi USA report that across the country, people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention have launched hunger and labour strikes, bravely putting their lives on the line to demand their freedom and protest the horrendous and inhumane conditions they are subjected to in detention. At Delaney Hall in New Jersey, the labour and hunger strike began in response to people being denied fresh food, medical care, and functioning air conditioning. Currently, more than 200 people are confirmed as on a labour and hunger strike with reports of more strikers inside the facility. At Adelanto in California, at least 20 people have gone on a hunger strike in response to mold, unsafe drinking water, and a lack of medical care.

"The people in ICE detention at Delaney Hall let us know that they were organising inside right after Sen. [Cory] Booker's oversight visit at the end of January when they shared a letter they had written to give to him," said Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and Pax Christi New Jersey coordinator Kathy O'Leary. "...These are our neighbours 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."

Use this link to read a recent update from Kathy O'Leary about the nonviolent resistance that has taken place for the past year.
Delaney Hall, managed by GEO Group for the Department of Homeland Security (for a $1 billion, 15 year contract), is the largest immigrant detention centre on the East Coast.

The current administration'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, we have seen increased 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, New Jersey Sen Andy Kim, Rep LaMonica McIver, Rep Analilia Mejia, and Gov Mikie Sherrill joined members of Pax Christi New Jersey and dozens of other community members at Delaney Hall in solidarity with the detained hunger strikers, and demanded the facility shut down. In response, ICE reportedly sent an armoured vehicle and armed agents, spraying pepper balls and tear gas at the crowd. The confrontational atmosphere continued on Tuesday, May 26.

In this video Sr Susan Francois, CSJP, describes the May 26 arrest of one the support persons providing medical attention to those who had been pepper-sprayed. (The medic, Adam Marshall, was released several hours after being arrested.)

On May 12, a handwritten letter in Spanish was released to the public, signed by almost 300 people being held in detention at Delaney Hall in Newark, NJ, sharing about the brutal conditions and their "deep helplessness and frustration that our due process, rights, and defence have been violated, disregarding benefits granted under the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments … We are certain that we are not being processed equally under immigration laws and the Constitution."

The Sisters of Mercy encourage America readers to send a message to their US representative and senators urging them to reject the reconciliation bill that would give $70 billion to ICE and Border Patrol - this bill was expected to have been voted on earlier in May but has been postponed until later in the summer. There is still time to push against it. For more details see: https://sistersofmercy.org/mercy-for-justice/action-alerts/

Visit Pax Christi New Jersey's Instagram page: www.instagram.com/paxchristinj/. for more information about how to help.