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.
Swaso tells L.A. TACO that during his two years in ICE detention, he regularly assisted inmates at Adelanto and other ICE detention centers with their legal cases, including showing them how to file a habeas corpus petition and reminding them of their rights, all based on his experiences.
Swaso says he was originally taken into ICE custody in August of 2024, after a traffic stop by state troopers in Georgia who called ICE. At the time, Swaso alleges he held an active B1/B2 Visa, a standard U.S. nonimmigrant visa that allows foreign nationals to temporarily enter the United States for business (B-1), tourism or medical treatment (B-2), or a combination of both, and oversaw import businesses, including bananas and sugar.
However, after a traffic violation, state troopers pulled over Swaso, who says he did not have his passport or documents on him. This prompted the troopers to call ICE, and Swaso was then transferred to their custody.
Swaso also says that he communicated with and saw the lethal symptoms of two detainees who later died under Adelanto’s custody.
Recently, L.A. TACO reported on the alleged retaliation against hunger strikers, including GEO staff trying to tempt the strikers by leaving burritos on their beds, pressing charges against Swaso, and reporting on a night when there was an alleged riot that strikers say was initiated by staff who entered their dorms in fatigues. The following night, Swaso was transferred to ERO Camp East Montana in Texas after refusing to sign for deportation, then to Louisiana, before being deported to Belize.
Swaso shared with L.A. TACO some serious allegations, including the firing of two GEO staff members after they offered him assistance, and provided information about Adelanto’s plan to deport him before it occurred. He also alleges that besides the conditions that detainees live with, the facility itself also abuses its staff, often by having them work multiple double shifts due to new employees constantly quitting.
A DHS spokesperson recently told L.A. TACO, “Allegations that Kyron Shakeel Swaso was kept in solitary confinement at Camp East Montana are FALSE. He was transferred to Camp East Montana on June 8 as part of his removal proceedings and was held with the general population.”
According to Melissa Shepard, legal services director of Immigrant Defenders, “An agency operating with an expanded budget and virtually no oversight cannot be allowed to hide conditions so dire that people feel compelled to risk their lives just to demand basic human treatment. By targeting the hunger strikers, ICE is trying to silence the people sounding the alarm and continue abusive practices without public scrutiny.
“Mr. Swaso and others are taking this risk because the conditions are unbearable, and lives are on the line. This is exactly why we must end immigration detention, restore asylum, fund universal representation, stop unlawful transfers, rebuild independent oversight, and stop separating families. Without real accountability, more people will suffer, and more people will die,” she says.
We have reached out to ICE, DHS, and GEO Group regarding these new details and will update our story when we receive a response.
This is a developing story.
