Immigration detainees continue hunger strike

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

TACOMA. Wash. (AP) — A hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center entered a third day as hundreds of detainees protested their treatment and called for an end to deportations. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Sunday that about 400 detainees refused to eat Saturday dinner. That morning, ICE said 750 wouldn’t eat.

Meanwhile, immigrant-rights activists say a group of more than 20 detainees had been segregated in a small room. They believe it is in retaliation for leading the hunger strike that started Friday.

Attorney Sandy Restrepo says the wife of a detainee talked briefly with her husband Sunday. That detainee said he and others were confined to one cell without bathroom breaks and couldn’t move around.

ICE spokesman Andrew Munoz says he couldn’t immediately comment on those reports. The center houses nearly 1,300 people being investigated for possible deportation.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/03/09/immigration_detainees_continue_hunger_strike/

[rug]

1. What's as bad is the thousands of detainees held in county jails across the U.S.

They are isolated, often by hundreds of miles, from friends and family and serve as profit-makers for the local jails.