Press Release

Indian Asylum Seekers Sustain Hunger Strikes at El Paso and Krome Facilities

Day 38 in El Paso … ICE seeking force-feeding orders this week | Day 31 in Krome…all three men are in the hospital

Seven asylum seekers from India are on hunger strike at ICE detention facilities in two states. There are two groups of asylum seekers, one detained at the El Paso Service Processing Center in El Paso, Texas and the other detained at the Krome North Service Processing Center near Miami, Florida. The group in El Paso has not eaten for 38 days, and the group in Krome for 31 days. Both immigration prisons have a history of force-feeding hunger strikers. At El Paso earlier this year, a group of 9 Sikh asylum seekers who were on hunger strike were brutally force-fed, prompting international outrage and an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General. Results of that investigation still have not been made public. Now these two groups of asylum seekers face the same inhumane treatment by ICE.

Read moreIndian Asylum Seekers Sustain Hunger Strikes at El Paso and Krome Facilities

Attorney swarmed by ICE and denied access to her client

An Indian asylum seeker on day 26 of his hunger strike for freedom was taken by ICE from the El Paso Service Processing Center to an El Paso hospital emergency room late Saturday afternoon. His whereabouts were unknown for several hours. Advocates finally located him at East Providence hospital. Shockingly, his attorney Linda Corchado, with a signed medical waiver from her client in hand, was not allowed to see him. Hospital staff were not the problem. ICE was.

Read moreAmidst a community crisis, asylum seeker on 26th Day of Hunger Strike rushed to ER

4 Indian Asylum Seekers Detained in El Paso on 25th Day of Hunger Strike

ICE transfers 3 other Indian asylum seekers to Florida on 18th day of second hunger strike in preparation for force feeding

EL PASO — Four Indian asylum seekers are entering their fourth week on hunger strike at the El Paso Service Processing Center, the same ICE jail which faced a separate, large scale hunger strike and where a group of men were force-fed earlier this year, prompting an investigation by the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. Three other Indian asylum seekers, who were detained at the Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico, were transferred without notice to the Krome Service Processing Center in Florida and away from community and legal support. They are entering their third week of being on hunger strike. 

Read moreEscalation of ICE Detention Hunger Strikes

ICE didn’t transfer 2 of them to Aurora, Colorado after all…they abruptly transferred them today to Miami, Florida more than twice as far away. ICE is unable to properly track people in their custody

On Saturday July 27, a day after Senator Wyden (Oregon) met with a group of asylum seekers on hunger strike at the Otero County Processing Center, advocates monitoring the men noted that according to ICE records they had been transferred to another facility. It took a phone call from Senator Wyden to DHS Secretary McAleenan this weekend to determine that the two hunger strikers the Official ICE Online Detainee Locator System (ODLS) showed as transferred to the Denver Contract Detention Facility actually remained in Otero. On Monday morning July 29, when staff from the mens’ attorney’s office went to Otero to verify their location, at 11:30 am, the ODLS still showed the hunger striking asylum seekers were detained in Aurora, Colorado. A half hour later, at noon, the location of these two asylum seekers was changed back to Otero.

Read more4 Indian Men in El Paso enter 4th Week of Hunger Strike 3 men transferred from Otero enter 3rd Week of Hunger Strike

On the afternoon of July 23, 2019, one of five Indian men on hunger strike at the Otero County Processing Center (OCPC) was abruptly transferred to the El Paso Service Processing Center (EPSPC). This morning, a search on ICE’s online locator yielded no results, indicating he was no longer in ICE custody. Advocates feared this man was in the process of being deported, and hidden from supporters in an attempt to further isolate him. Sadly, we just received word that he was put on a plane early this morning and deported. ICE speedily deported someone who has not eaten in more than a week. ICE regularly advises detained individuals weeks in advance of their expected removal, yet this man was given no forewarning. Despite ICE’s repeat boilerplate claims that “it does not retaliate in any way against hunger strikers,” the hasty and unannounced removal of a man who has not eaten for more than a week is clear evidence of ICE retaliation against a hunger striker.

Read moreIndian Man on Hunger Strike at Otero County Processing Center Deported