Immigrants detained at an ICE facility in northern Michigan continued a hunger strike Wednesday, with advocates saying detainees are protesting alleged medical neglect, unsafe conditions and prolonged legal delays.
According to the advocacy group No Detention Centers in Michigan, detainees at the North Lake Processing Center, a privately operated immigration facility in Baldwin, the strike, which started Monday, involved hundreds of people.
Among them is Ahmad Alnajdawi of Jordan, who in a message the group says was shared with them, stated that language barriers prevent many detainees from communicating with staff or immigration officials.
The North Lake facility, the largest immigration detention center in the Midwest, is operated by GEO Group, a private prison company that runs multiple immigration detention centers nationwide.
When asked about the situation at the detention center, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security sent Michigan Advance a statement denying a hunger strike was taking place, but did so by noting they continue to provide detainees three meals a day as well as an “adequate supply of drinking water or other beverages.”
The spokesperson, who DHS did not identify in the statement, also denied there were “subprime conditions” at the North Lake facility, claiming that certified dieticians evaluate all their meals and that a full range of medical services were provided.
“In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” the statement read.
DHS used similar language when asked about a hunger strike reported at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, also operated by GEO Group.
Despite those denials, Ale Rojas, an organizer with No Detention Centers in Michigan, said North Lake detainees are protesting conditions that include inadequate food and medical care, as well as what the group says are systemic issues with immigration detention.
“This courageous collective action is a response to the dehumanization and abuse that are endemic to ICE detention, where immigrants are used as scapegoats so corporations like the GEO Group may continue to build their profits unchecked,’ Rojas said. “Centering our humanity and the humanity of every person who has been kidnapped by ICE is the only way forward.”
The alleged conditions at the facility prompted several dozen protestors to gather outside on Tuesday, many holding signs against ICE and at one point attempting to block departing vehicles. While deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office were present, no arrests were made.
Christine Sauve with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center said the hunger strike brought forward ongoing concerns advocates have had regarding the health and safety of North Lake detainees.
“For many months we’ve received reports from clients of delayed or denied medical care, as well as inadequate food and nutrition.” Sauve said. “We’ve also heard from people who are not receiving important information from ICE about their legal cases, and others who report ‘being treated like animals’ and ‘as if they have no rights.’ We urge ICE and GEO Group to follow the Constitution and the Performance-Based National Detention Standards and provide all individuals in their care access to medical treatment and timely information about their cases.”
Sauve noted that it was increasingly difficult to ensure national standards are being followed since the administration of President Donald Trump gutted staffing at both the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman operated by the Department of Homeland Security.
