By Sunita Sohrabji/Ethnic Media Services
An estimated 50 to 100 asylum seekers being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, have embarked on a hunger strike to protest brutish conditions and lengthy stays at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
The men — all Indians from Punjab state — began their hunger strike January 2. They have vowed to continue fasting until they are released from the facility. All are eligible for asylum but have been detained for at least four months or longer amid unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, poor food quality, and no access to medical care, Maru Mora Villalpando, an organizer with La Resistencia and founder of Latino Advocacy, told Ethnic Media Services. “ICE could release them on bond without a court hearing, but it is failing to do its job,” she said.
“By now, ICE should have determined their cases, one way or another,” said Villalpando. “They have a right to know.”
‘Til our last breath’
The Indian asylum seekers at NWDC are very badly treated by the guards because they don’t speak English, alleged Villalpando. The food is bad and largely non-vegetarian, she said. Approximately two-thirds of Punjabis eat no meat.
There are currently 300 Indians detained at NWDC.
The hunger strikers have pledged to continue to fast: “Til’ our demands are met, til’ our last breath.” One 62-year old hunger striker, Mohinder Gill, fainted from the lack of food Jan. 6 and was taken out of his unit in a stretcher, according to Randhir Singh, one of the organizers of the hunger strike.
In a video released on TikTok by La Resistencia, Singh said: “I will do as long, as much as my body can handle it. I want freedom from here, that’s all I want. Send me back to Canada, to my family, or release me here. I am getting mentally sick, physically weak here.”
He noted that ICE has threatened to lengthen the detention of hunger strikers unless they break their fast. Several have given in, said Singh, in a statement released by La Resistencia.
Force feeding
Seven hunger strikes were launched at this facility in 2023. Last November, Washington State Department of Health officials tried to enter the facility to investigate more than 200 complaints. They were denied entry both times they attempted to visit, reported local radio station KNKX.
Hunger strikes have been a frequent occurrence at ICE detention centers for at least the past decade. The first one of note was in 2014, at a detention center in El Paso, Texas.
ICE has used harsh tactics to shut down the strikes, such as force feeding through gastric or nasal tubes, denial of contact with relatives, and isolation from the general population.
Bonds not granted
No one has yet been force fed at NWDC, said Villalpando.
ICE may release an individual on his or her own recognizance, meaning that he or she signs paperwork committing to appear for scheduled immigration court hearings, notes the American Immigration Council. Often however, ICE chooses not to do so, or sets a bond amount so high that the asylum seeker cannot pay it. During the former Trump Administration, thousands of asylum seekers were held at ICE facilities for over two years.
The Northwest Detention Center is operated by the GEO Corporation, a private company which has contracted with ICE to hold the detainees. NWDC has the worst rate of releasing asylum seekers on bond, according to data from Syracuse University. Only three percent of cases are granted bond. By contrast, Conroe Immigration Court in Texas and Krome SPC in Florida granted the highest number of releases on bond, 44 percent and 45 percent respectively.
Arrests at the border
Nationwide, one-third of asylum seekers from India were granted release on bond in 2023, according to Syracuse University data. The average amount of bond varies, from $5000 to as high as $25,000 or more.
Customs and Border Patrol arrested 26,642 Indians at the US-Mexico border from the years 2015 to 2020, according to the North American Punjabi Association, which received the data from CBP with a Freedom of Information Act request. Many traveled on foot, enduring journeys of 6 months or longer through various countries before arriving at the US border. “The US is responsible for the forced migration of immigrants from other lands,” stated Villalpando. “Our system has the capacity to absorb everyone who is coming to our borders. The infrastructure is there. The money is there. But the will is not there,” she said. “This hunger strike will not be the last one.”
