Groups seeking records following reports of solitary confinement, deportations, and concerns about retaliation against strikers
FOLKSTON, GA – Today, American Oversight, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta launched an investigation into Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) response to the ongoing hunger strike led by people detained at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Georgia.
The groups filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking the expedited release of significant incident reports, hunger-strike-related monitoring data, and communications with ICE’s Atlanta Field Office about the hunger strike. These records could provide critical information about how facility officials have responded to the protest, including the retaliatory use of solitary confinement, transfers or deportations, and any other measures taken against people participating in the strike.
“The conditions inside the Folkston facility are so dire that human beings detained there have been forced to starve themselves as a cry for help,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “ICE created this situation, and its continued failure to address even the most basic human needs, including access to food and safe drinking water, is a choice. Lives are at stake, and every day of inaction puts people at greater risk. The public needs to know whether ICE has retaliated against those participating in the strike and what it is doing to end the deplorable conditions in Folkston. ICE must act immediately to protect the people in its custody and be held accountable for its choices that put their lives in danger.”
“These men are putting their own bodies and lives on the line because they feel they have no other way to be heard. That should tell all of us just how desperate and intolerable conditions inside Folkston have become,” said Evan Benz, Managing Attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. “Hunger strikes require extraordinary courage. No one stops eating for days or weeks at a time lightly. ICE owes them, their families, and the public answers about how it has responded to this protest and what it is doing to address their demands for better conditions at Folkston.”
“It has been nearly 20 days since the brave men detained at Folkston collectively reclaimed their power from a system built to convince them they have none. The hunger strikers and the public deserve to know the full extent of ICE’s efforts to suppress their resistance. ICE must be held accountable for its actions, and transparency is the bare minimum,” said Samantha C. Hamilton, Senior Litigation Staff Attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. “This FOIA request is a demand for accountability. No system that enables such cruelty and profits from human suffering can be reformed from within. The inhumane conditions at Folkston reflect the fundamental cruelty of an immigration detention system that treats human lives as commodities. Advancing Justice-Atlanta demands the closure of Folkston and every immigration detention facility, and calls for ICE to be abolished once and for all. No one should profit from the suffering of our communities.”
The requests come amid serious concerns about retaliation against the hunger strikers and the health and safety of people who have gone without food for prolonged periods. The advocates and watchdog are also seeking information that could shed light on whether ICE has considered or used forced feeding or other medical interventions in response to the strike.
On Oct. 4, men detained at Folkston released a video calling public attention to their prolonged detention in ICE custody. The men featured in the video were asylum seekers, many of whom had reportedly been detained for two years or longer. Two days later, people detained at Folkston began a hunger strike protesting their prolonged detention and the conditions inside the facility, including moldy food, insects in drinking water, unsanitary conditions, lack of adequate medical treatment, and abuse by staff.
The organizations requested expedited processing, citing the potential imminent threat to the lives and physical safety of people participating in the hunger strike, as well as the potential loss of substantial due process rights. The request also cites significant public and media interest in ICE’s handling of the strike and raises questions about government accountability.