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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Hunger strike continues at ICE facilities

    About 20 asylum-seekers detained at immigration facilities across the country are refusing to eat, ICE officials confirmed

    By Tatiana Sanchez | 3:51 p.m. Dec. 10, 2015 | Updated, 4:06 p.m


    About 20 unauthorized immigrants detained in facilities across the country are continuing a hunger strike to protest what they describe as prolonged detention, the latest in a series of strikes launched in immigration jails in October.

    Organizers said the most recent wave began Nov. 25 in three locations, including the Otay Mesa Detention Facility in San Diego, where 14 men participated. They began taking meals again on Dec. 4, according to immigration officials.

    The strike grew to include more than 100 people at one point, spanning several facilities across the country.

    As of Thursday, 12 detainees at the Krome Detention Center in Miami continued to refuse meals, along with three detainees at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility in Colorado, one at the South Texas Detention Center, two detainees at the Orange County Jail in New York, and one at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility/Batavia Service Processing Center, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    Per ICE policy, the agency does not recognize a hunger strike until inmates have refused food for more than 72 hours, or the equivalent of nine meals. ICE officials have confirmed the hunger strikes but say privacy laws prohibit them from discussing specific cases.

    The majority of the detainees are asylum-seekers from South Asia or Africa who have been held for periods ranging from 10 months to 2 years as their cases work their way through immigration proceedings.

    “The hunger strikes became a spark which has since spread elsewhere. For detainees who have no control over any other aspect of their life, the ability to go on a hunger strike is the only thing they can control and exert both their frustration and also their power,” said Fahd Ahmed, director of Desis Rising Up & Moving , a New York City organization that helped coordinate the strike.

    Ahmed said the men have fled violence, persecution and economic strife. Many of them crossed several countries on foot and by sea to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum, he said.

    “The journeys they undertake, they are not to be taken lightly. We can’t imagine that anybody would take them just on a whim, or to try their luck. These are life-endangering journeys,” Ahmed said.

    The protesters detained in Otay Mesa are all from Bangladesh, according to Ahmed.

    Federal law mandates that individuals detained for more than six months be given bond hearings before an immigration judge. Immigration authorities consider several factors when deciding whether to release unauthorized immigrants from detention, including flight risk, criminal history and potential ties to the United States.

    ICE said it explains the negative effects of refusing food to detainees and closely monitors their health.

    “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) takes very seriously the health, safety, and welfare of those in our care and we continue to monitor the situation. ICE’s detention facilities are staffed with medical and mental health care providers who monitor, diagnose and treat residents at the facilities,” the agency said in a statement.

    Two individuals at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility were given medical care during their hunger strikes, according to ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack.

    http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ice-detention/
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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Do they think we care if they don't eat? It's their choice. Eat or don't eat. Whatever. Yawn.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

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