Hunger strike at California's ICE facility as detainees decry 'Inhumane' conditions

At an ICE detention facility in the high desert of Southern California, conditions have led at least 20 detained people to declare hunger strikes. The strikers say they have not eaten since Tuesday and are demanding due process, bond reform, improved conditions, adequate medical and mental health care, nutritious food, accountability for deaths, and the right to organize and communicate. The 20 men are held in the Desert View Annex processing center within the Adelanto detention complex. Reports also indicate a hunger strike at the Adelanto Processing Facility West that began last Friday. The Adelanto facility is California’s largest immigration detention site, holding over 2,000 people, and is operated by GEO Group under contract. Four deaths occurred there between September 2025 and March 2026.

"“There are many people suffering here. This is the only way we have to raise our voice, this is a call to stop the suffering and respect our dignity as human beings,” read a statement written by the strikers and read during an press conference held online this morning held by a coalition of advocacy groups."

"The immigrants at the Adelanto ICE detention complex have not eaten since Tuesday. They are demanding “due process, bond reform, improved conditions, adequate medical and mental health care, nutritious food, accountability for deaths, and the right to organize and communicate” according to their statement."

"The 20 men on strike are all being held in the facility's Desert View Annex processing center, which is one of the three facilities in the Adelanto detention complex, where immigrants who are detained await deportation or release. There are also reports of a hunger strike at the Adelanto Processing Facility West that began last Friday, according to the Community Defense Coalition, a grassroots immigration advocacy group who is in touch with people being held there through their families."

"The Adelanto ICE facility is California's largest immigration detention facility and currently holds over 2,000 people, according to the California Department of Justice. It is owned by GEO Group, a private corporation contracted to operate immigration detention facilities, prisons and mental health facilities around the country. Earlier this month, a former GEO Group executive was named the acting director of ICE, replacing Todd Lyons who will soon retire."

Read at Mission Local