Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA
On Friday, March 7th, 1200 people held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, one of the largest immigration prisons in the country, began a hunger strike and work stoppage.
ICE immediately retaliated against the strikers, placing many in solitary confinement and threatening others with force feeding. A core group continued for more than two weeks and the strike restarted on a mass scale to continue pushing demands. Their effort to win fair treatment and see the President stop deportations has garnered national and international support as they blow the whistle on conditions in the center run for-profit by the GEO Group.
Sign the petition to support the Tacoma hunger strikers
Joe Crowley Detention Center in Conroe, TX
Two weeks later, Detainees in the Joe Crowley Detention Center in Conroe, TX were inspired to start their own hunger strike. 500 people initially went on hunger strike to protest conditions at the privately-run detention center in which they are housed and to demand an end to deportations and family separation.
The hunger strikers have faced significant retaliation. ICE has pressured 20 of the strikers to sign voluntary departure orders, and 15 have already been deported as a direct result of participating in the hunger strike. Hunger strikers are being put in isolation and denied visits from their families as a result of participating, and at least 2 are currently vomiting blood and facing life-threatening kidney problems as a result of not eating.
Sign the petition to support the Texas hunger strikers