New Jersey Immigrant Prisoners Are on Hunger Strike
Protests are exploding outside of a New Jersey immigrant detention center after detainees say they are being “treated like animals” and are engaged in a work stoppage and hunger strike.
Families and lawyers of New Jersey immigrant detainees report that ICE agents and private prison guards have been denying them medical care, offering them food with worms, and refusing them bail bond or access to their lawyers. (Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images)
On a patch of sidewalk on a busy industrial corridor in Newark, federal agents with rifles, metal batons, flak vests, and balaclavas faced off against unarmed activists with cardboard signs and a bullhorn. Detained workers could be heard on the soccer field behind the prison walls, shouting in Spanish, “¡Libertad!” (Freedom!)
Since May 22, three hundred of them are on a work stoppage and hunger strike. Over video chat, one worker told the crowd outside that they had stopped eating and working for as little as $1 an hour (or no pay at all) to demand an improvement in their living conditions. “But that’s not all we demand,” he said. “We are also doing this to demand freedom. We’re not treated like people. We’re treated like animals.”
The hunger strikers are demanding to meet with the governor, the release of young and elderly detainees and all medically vulnerable people, and ultimately, freedom for all.
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