US: Alleged 'Slavery Wages' Prompt Hunger Strike at ICE Detention Facilities

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Facts

  • Around 45 detainees at two detention facilities run by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in California – the Mesa Verde and the Golden State Annex – are on a weeks-long hunger strike for alleged inhumane treatment.1
  • The protest started on Feb. 16 with approximately 80 participants, who cite poor living conditions, including rotten food and wages of $1 a day for tasks like sanitation, laundry duty, and maintenance.1
  • The protestors are demanding to be paid California's minimum wage, safer working conditions, an end to alleged abusive pat-downs, and compliance with ICE's detention standards, including timely medical care and fresh food.2
  • Meanwhile, a group of detainees has sued ICE and its detention contractor, the GEO Group, for allegedly placing the hunger strikers in solitary confinement and denying them family visits, yard time, and access to church.3
  • The GEO Group has denied the allegations, classifying them as 'part of a long-standing radical campaign to attack ICE's contractors, abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention by proxy.'4
  • California passed a law in 2019 to shut down privately run detention and prison facilities over reports of unsafe conditions, inadequate health care, and violence. However, the law was struck down by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2022 for facilities operated on behalf of ICE.5

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Ncronline, 3Kqed, 4Yahoo and 5San francisco chronicle.

Narratives

  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Kqed. Jailed immigrants in the custody of for-profit billion-dollar companies are an economic boon since they are used as cheap laborers, saving private contractors millions of dollars. These businesses, putting profit before human rights, aren't interested in bringing change as it would cost billions of dollars. The US criminal justice system must step in and stop allowing prisoners to perform exploitative tasks as it creates an atmosphere of deprivation and punishment, which violates the Constitution.
  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Duluth news tribune. Federal law mandates that immigrants convicted of certain crimes are subject to mandatory detention, and privately owned ICE facilities are subject to stringent oversight to ensure compliance with health and safety standards and maintain a safe and secure detention environment for detainees. As per the ICE guidelines, such facilities must answer to members of Congress to provide access to legal services, recreational amenities, three nutritional meals a day, and medical care.