Scores of Tacoma ICE detainees refusing food to try to force coronavirus changes, advocates say

More than 80 immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center on Tacoma’s Tideflats started a hunger strike Friday to protest conditions at the facility in response to the pandemic, according to the immigrant rights group La Resistencia.

The Center has 1,575 beds and is privately owned and operated by the GEO Group.

The strike is meant to call attention to what advocates say is a dangerous health situation akin to what Wendy Parmet, a professor of law and public health at Northeastern University, calls a “tinderbox” where COVID-19 could spread rapidly to those detained, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In a news release, La Resistencia said the strikers had three demands:

▪ Provide temporary humanitarian visas for those inside.

▪ Reunite those detained with their families.

▪ Stop all deportation and immigration proceedings until the pandemic has concluded.

On Monday, members of La Resistencia, Tsuru for Solidarity and Never Again Seattle rallied outside the facility in Tacoma to express support for the hunger strikers inside.

They primarily drove around in cars to abide by safe social distancing protocols while holding signs saying, “Release Them All” and “Shut Down The NWDC.”

The groups argue that decreasing the population is the best way to prevent a spread of the coronavirus.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency website, there have been four confirmed cases of COVID-19 of those held in its custody nationwide. All are in New Jersey.

The website originally said a previously unknown case had been found in Texas, but that report was shortly taken down.

One of the newly confirmed New Jersey cases is at the Hudson County Correctional Facility where detainees went on hunger strike over a week ago to demand more than one bar of soap.

As of Monday, there have been no confirmed cases in the Tacoma facility. ICE would not say how many tests had been conducted on residents of the NWDC.

There have been a number of hunger strikes at the Tacoma facility in recent years over conditions related to food, wages, education and health.

A recent lawsuit called for the release of virus-vulnerable detainees in light of COVID-19, two of whom were released Thursday, according to Q13.

An ICE official told The News Tribune the agency does “not comment on pending litigation” and that it makes determinations of release “on a case-by-case basis.”

The agency acknowledged some detainees were refusing meals, but said this did not mean a hunger strike was occurring as it’s possible detainees were purchasing food through the commissary.

Advocate Maru Mora-Villalpando, a La Resistencia organizer who herself has faced the prospect of deportation, said ICE’s suggestion that food was being purchased through the commissary was an attempt to undercut the strike’s message.

“We know they always try to diminish or deny the fact that people are on hunger strike,” Mora-Villalpando said in a phone interview.

Mora-Villalpando said the detainees on strike are drinking liquids such as Pedialyte which is meant to prevent dehydration.

On its website, ICE said it had halted “social visitations in all detention facilities” and that “the health, welfare and safety of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees is one of the agency’s highest priorities.”

From Mora-Villalpando’s perspective, not enough is being done and the community will have to take additional action to avoid having to deal with an outbreak stemming from the facility.

“We need local authorities to take those in detention seriously. They are members of our community. Being in detention is dangerous,” Mora-Villalpando said. “Under a pandemic, we cannot choose who lives and who dies. We should do the best that we can so everybody is safe.”

“If anything happens to the detainees, what are Tacoma’s hospitals going to do?” Mora-Villalpando said. “Tacoma will end up having to deal with this whether they like it or not.”

The release also highlighted concerns over what they call the “blatant disregard for hygiene or the sanitary conditions needed to stop the rampant spread of the virus among guards, staff, and those detained within the facility.”

An ICE official said in response it is “committed to ensuring the welfare of all those in the agency’s custody, including providing access to necessary and appropriate medical care.”

The official also said that as of now “there are no detainees in need of medical attention due to meal refusals” but would not elaborate due to privacy concerns.

This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 3:19 PM.