Kyron Shakeel Swaso, 35, was the main organizer of a hunger strike at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center that began on May 19. He had been in ICE custody for roughly two years, and was at the Adelanto facility since June of 2025.
Recently, he was transferred across two different ICE detention centers before being deported to Belize, in what he says was an act of retaliation.
Swaso, who spoke with L.A. TACO via FaceTime, states that he used his live library login as a notepad to communicate with other detainees and, after organizing and finalizing a hunger strike plan with two inmates, spread the word around the West Wing of the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.
Swaso explains that the strike started with 20 people, quickly grew to at least 100 in both the West and East Wings of the processing center, and soon spread into the Desert Annex. The hunger strike was organized after allegations of spoiled food, mistreatment by staff, and poor living conditions.
Swaso says that after any detainees complained, they would “become a target.” The strike expanded beyond meals, and detainees stopped buying from the facility’s commissary. During the strike, Swaso and other detainees would save fruit and vegetables for detainees who wanted to strike but were ill or elderly.