Immigrant workers detained at Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex have relaunched a labor strike! In 2022-2023, detained workers - who are forced to work for just $1/day for private prison operator GEO Group - went on labor strike for 10 months before escalating to a hunger strike which they paused after facing brutal, violent retaliation by ICE and GEO Group. On July 1, 2024, due to worsening conditions, prolonged detention, and other injustices, 59 immigrant workers inside the detention centers relaunched the strike. The strike is ongoing.

42 people escalated to a hunger strike on July 11, 2024, and went for three days without food, meeting the conditions that require ICE to officially recognize their protest as a hunger strike. Eleven individuals continued the hunger strike, and ten hunger strikers refused food for 11 days before ending their strike on the 12th day after the detention center administration threatened to transfer them to Texas, far away from their families, to a facility known for force-feeding, a brutal tactic considered torture by many. Strikers report that guards routinely subjected them to psychological torture by isolating them from everyone else, depriving them of any sunlight by taking away all yard time, and most cruelly by bringing trays of food into the dorm of hunger strikers three times a day and telling them it must stay there for at least twenty minutes where they can smell the food, or that each person has to individually throw away their food tray.

62 people restarted a hunger strike on August 1, 2024 at both facilities. As of August 13th, at least 14 people are still on hunger strike. Since August 4, strikers at Golden State Annex have been deprived of sunlight and fresh air, as their access to the outdoors has been completely cut off. Several strikers’ family members traveled to visit them and were turned away without being able to see their loved ones. Guards told relatives in one case that an “incident” had occurred and they could not visit at that time. A guard told strikers it was because they were on hunger strike. At Mesa Verde, strikers paused their hunger strike after winning two concessions - daily provision of a piece of fruit (formerly only provided once every week or two), and the promise of medical attention for a person who has been dealing with pain and lowered mobility after a hand injury without treatment for nearly a year. People should not need to go on hunger strike for the right to eat a banana or go to the doctor!

What Led up to these Strikes?

As the presidential election approaches, the Biden administration’s doubling-down on anti-immigrant policies has directly impacted the lives of people held at GSA and Mesa Verde. A federal inspection report released earlier this year revealed that GSA did not comply with all of ICE’s detention standards and ICE paid an excess of $25.3 million in taxpayer money for empty beds at GSA. Since the inspection, ICE has sent far more people to GSA, increasing the population by around 200% and exacerbating pre-existing problems and abuses inside the facility. Already inadequate medical care has become even more unacceptable, with mix-ups in medical records and multiple COVID-19 outbreaks in the past year.

In April, 2024, after several protests over worsening conditions, prison guards in riot gear stormed one of the dorms at GSA, physically assaulting, pepper spraying and handcuffing people detained there. GEO Group then sentenced four individuals to a month in solitary confinement where they spent at least 22 hours a day alone in a cell. Last month, ICE took away detained immigrants’ access to free phone calls, which many people relied upon to speak with their families, communities and lawyers. Unfair custody reviews by ICE and case adjudications by immigration judges have resulted in prolonged detention, keeping people locked up for years and intensifying the impact of these inhumane conditions.