Hundreds of immigrants are on a hunger strike at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas, according to lawyers representing them.
About 300 men and 300 boys are reportedly demanding their release from the Karnes County Residential Center facility southeast of San Antonio after being reunited as families. The fathers are refusing food and holding sit-ins in public places around the facility while the children refuse to join school activities.
“We are desperate, we are tired of being incarcerated and we want to be released with our sons,” wrote a father identified as Jorge in a July 31 letter, which said it represented 400 families. He is speaking out “to let the media know the unfairness we separated fathers are going through.”
“They should just do what they need to do, whether it is to deport us or allow us to be free to work with visas,” the father said.
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, which represents the detainees, announced the strike Wednesday and said the fathers are being held with no news about their immigration status, and that some unknowingly signed deportation documents thinking they were agreeing to the return of their children.
“There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why these people were detained and others were released,” said Manoj Govindaiah, director of family detention services at RAICES.
ICE did not confirm that the strike was occurring but said in a statement that it monitors food and water consumption for those identified as on hunger strike and respects their right to speak their mind and will not “retaliate in any way against” them.
A San Diego federal judge halted deportations of families after a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union alleging immigrants were being misled into signing deportation documents.
The Trump administration began its “no tolerance” policy for illegal border crossers in May, which resulted in close to 3,000 children being separated from their families as the adults are prosecuted, although some of those have since been reunited.
The White House and congressional Republicans have been encouraging the use of family detention centers to keep children with their parents as they await immigration proceedings.