Ever since ICE began using the Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex prisons in Kern County, California, to detain immigrants in 2020, the people locked inside have organized to resist the torture and abuse they face at the hands of ICE officers and GEO Group private prison guards. And even before then, in 2019 when the ICE-GEO Group contract was signed for the two detention centers (along with a third one called Central Valley), community members have organized to oppose these unjust cages. This page is dedicated to uplifting the struggle of people detained by ICE in Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex and sharing information on how community members can take action to stand in solidarity with them.
Immigrant workers detained at Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex have relaunched labor and hunger strikes! Detained workers went on strike for 10 months in 2022-2023 before escalating to a hunger strike which they paused after facing brutal, violent retaliation by ICE and GEO Group. Due to worsening conditions, prolonged detention, and other injustices, people organizing inside the detention centers relaunched the strike on July 1, 2024. The escalated to hunger strikes on July 11th and again on August 1st. Learn more on the Current Campaign page.
The strikers have five demands:
TERMINATE THE CONTRACT: End the Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex ICE Detention contracts by December 2024, because there is no humane way to run these places. In the meantime, we demand:
FREEDOM: Review our cases for release fairly, including our 6-month ICE custody reviews
END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: Solitary confinement is torture
STOP VIOLATING YOUR OWN STANDARDS including those that require you to provide us with adequate medical and mental health care and nutritious and unexpired food, and those that prohibit you from retaliating against us and our loved ones physically and psychologically for speaking out when you violate these standards
PHONE CALLS: Stop charging us to call our families, lawyers, and communities