Updated 09:20 PM EDT, Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Immigration Reform News 2014: 330 Detainees at Washington State Detention Center on Hunger Strike to Stop Deportations, Demand Better Treatment

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About 330 detainees being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Washington state are on a hunger strike in an effort to fight for better conditions.

The hunger strike at the immigration detention center in Tacoma began on Friday and stretched throughout the weekend. According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), hundreds of detainees refused to eat Saturday dinner in an attempt to halt deportations and demand better treatment. That morning, over half of the 1300 detainees—around 750—refused to take breakfast, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The private facility is owned and operated by the GEO Group Inc., a government contractor that houses immigration detainees during the deportation process.

An immigration activist website run by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network stated that the facility's detainees were protesting "the ongoing deportations overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the inhumane conditions at the for-profit detention center owned and operated by the GEO Corporation."

The protesters are also demanding better food and treatment, an increase in their $1-a-day wages for work, and lower commissary prices, states www.notonemoredeportation.com.

In the meantime, an immigrant activist group called Community to Community Development lead protests outside of the detention center that will go on until Tuesday.

The GEO Group, which describes the Northwest Detention Center as a combination minimum-, medium- and maximum-security facility, said some of the detainees in the facility have violent criminal histories and have been placed on lockdown as a "safety precaution" during the hunger strike.

ICE spokesman Andrew Munoz said that the agency "fully respects the rights of all people to express their opinion without interference," reports NBC News.

"While we continue to work with Congress to enact commonsense immigration reform, ICE remains committed to sensible, effective immigration enforcement that focuses on its priorities," Munoz added.

ICE officials said that as of Sunday afternoon, the 330 detainees who were refusing meals had not yet crossed the 72-hour threshold, which is when they must be referred for a medical evaluation.

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