Riley B. | Corresponsal de Red Phoenix | California–
Hunger strikes have erupted across three of ICE’s concentration camps operated by the private prison corporation the GEO Group, a publicly traded corporation – two at neighboring facilities in Adelanto, California, and a third at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. As detainees refuse food to protest abusive conditions and indefinite confinement, the coordinated actions expose the growing resistance inside America’s sprawling immigration detention system.
Adelanto, the small rural town where these hunger strikes are taking place, is in a desert in rural California, about a two-hour drive from Los Angeles. It has three buildings for holding ICE victims. Adelanto ICE Processing Center was a state prison for two decades, before GEO Group bought it in 2010 and converted it to an ICE facility in 2011. They built its larger West Wing in 2012, to support Barack Obama’s massive surge of anti-immigrant violence. Desert View Annex, to the east, is a de-facto expansion opened in late 2020. “Adelanto” is commonly used to refer to all three as one concentration camp.
Human rights groups have mentioned Adelanto in numerous lawsuits since GEO started running the facility. ICE has been known for denying due process to their victims, while the facility is known for beatings, overcrowding, denial of visitation, spread of disease, medical neglect, and abuse of prisoner labor.
Donald Trump is openly friendly with GEO Group’s largest investors. The company’s stock jumped 42% the day after his re-election. Since Trump’s second term began, five people have died in Adelanto or shortly after being released from the facility.
A reporter from Southern California New Group says that over 40 people began hunger striking in the West Wing on May 15. They are demanding faster medical care, more and better-quality food, and mold remediation. Unfortunately, as of the time of writing, information is limited. Several families have made the long drive to Adelanto, to only then be denied visits because their loved one was part of the strike or living in the same dorm as a striker.
A separate hunger strike, plus economic boycott, began in Desert View Annex on May 19. Defend Migrants Alliance hosted a press conference on May 20, to expose the conditions in Adelanto, share the strikers’ demands, and ask for immediate support from the community. This strike includes at least twenty people, with possibly dozens more.
Eva, the wife of one of the organizers, went into detail about the horrors that led to the strike. Her husband, Luis, has been in Adelanto facilities since September. Luis has an exposed nerve on his hand from a work accident. Being kidnapped by ICE has cut his treatment short. He was assigned a top bunk, while the bottom bunk was empty, even though climbing up was sending a shocking pain through his hand. When he asked for the bottom bunk, the guards mocked him. They told him to “get a doctor’s note,” then directed him to a fake grievance process instead of getting him medical attention. He hasn’t been able to get anything to cover the nerve, so now he’s experiencing “shocks” and complications through his whole arm. He has also tried to report coughing and chest pains, but has only been given tylenol, mints, and salt packets “to gargle with.”
Communication with prisoners is limited. Phone calls are monitored, while prisoners face retaliation for reporting bad conditions or offering information to outside organizers. In-person visits can be denied for any or no reason. Families and organizers have learned to bring many outfits to visits, as anything can be deemed “too baggy,” “too revealing,” “offensive,” or “a gang color.” The facility denies visitation for emergency “power outage” closures, which organizers claim happen more in weeks that the facility is covering up a death, strike, or other incident.
ICE prisoners are often forced to pay for over-the-counter medication, while being denied medical attention. Adelanto has a $1 per day work program, which is the subject of a lawsuit for wage theft, unjust enrichment, and forced labor. While squeezing prisoners for as much commissary money as possible, using them for unpaid or barely-paid labor, and denying them decent food or medical care, GEO Group is charging the government an average of $165 per detainee, per day. The typical bond is around $80,000, so most people are trapped while they wait for their court hearings. The Desert View Annex economic boycott involves refusing to pay for phone calls or buying anything else from the commissary.
Caleb Soto, a lawyer with National Day Laborer Organizing Network, spoke at the press conference to confirm how bad the conditions are and to share the exact demands of the Desert View Annex hunger strikers. He said that his clients have noticeably aged in just months at Adelanto, from the food and medical care being inadequate and the constant stress from the conditions of terror.
Desert View Annex Hunger Strikers’ Seven Core Demands:
- Bond Reform: Fair, transparent, and legally-justified bond determinations
- Improved Conditions: Immediate remediation of mold, water infrastructure repairs, and clean, functioning facilities
- Adequate Medical Care: Meaningful medical appointments and appropriate treatment for chronic conditions
- Nutritious Food: A diet that sustains basic physical health
- Accountability for Deaths: Answers regarding detainee deaths in care
- Right to Organize: Freedom to meet collectively and communicate without retaliation
- Shut Down Adelanto and Desert View: Complete closure of the facilities
Bertie Hernandez spoke as a survivor of Adelanto; now an advocate and activist with California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance. Hernandez and CIYJA talked about how the conditions were already horrible during Trump’s first term and have only become worse because of overcrowding. One of their priorities was to highlight how hunger striking is a last resort. Hunger strikers can be thrown in solitary confinement or even transferred out-of-state, away from their families and lawyers, to a facility with forced feeding. The press conference organizers also pointed out that lawsuits had reduced Adelanto’s prisoner population to just six people in 2020, providing organizers and activists tangible proof that it is possible to shut the facility down.
The hunger and labor strike at Delaney Hall started on May 22, 2026 and includes about 300 prisoners. They are striking for vulnerable detainees to be released, for the governor to investigate the facility and meet with them, and for their conditions to be improved. Delaney Hall is in urban Newark, New Jersey and has been supported by large protests outside its walls. ICE has been assaulting protesters, including U.S. Senator Andy Kim, with chemical weapons. U.S. Congressman Rob Menendez claims that he tried to do an unannounced oversight visit, but was illegally denied entry. New Jersey’s Governor showed up on Monday morning and was criticized for the state’s slow response.
All three strikes are believed to be still ongoing. Anonymous observers reported ambulances leaving the Adelanto complex on May 23, 24, and 27.
The American Party of Labor remains committed to the fight against ICE, the prison industry, and fascism. Working people deserve freedom and comfort, no matter their race, nationality, or physical ability. Migrant workers are not the cause of capitalism’s failures. We recognize the courage of the strikers and strongly encourage everyone to mobilize to support them. An organized, militant working class cannot be abused!