On Sunday morning at 6 a.m., at least 35 people gathered in front of the Alameda St. entrance of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, and began a 24-hour fast in solidarity with the hunger strikes in ICE facilities across the country.
Demonstrators said they are fasting to show solidarity with, and bring attention to, the detainees who are participating in a hunger strike at Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Desert View Annex.
Demonstrators told L.A. TACO they may extend the fast beyond the 24 hours. There are at least eight fasters who will be staying for the full 24 hours outside of the federal building.
Demonstrators stood on both sidewalks in front of the building, making art, hanging banners, and recording and yelling at the outgoing vehicles leaving the facility. They demand the following: bond reform, improved conditions, adequate medical and mental health care, nutritious food, accountability for deaths, the right to organize and communicate, and to shut down Adelanto.
All three Adelanto ICE facilities are participating in a hunger strike, according to a post by the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. The facilities are the East and West Wings of the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, and the Desert View Annex.
The Instagram post also includes an audio message from one of the participants inside one of the facilities, who explains that they are on a hunger strike because the price for bail is too high: between $60,000 and $80,000.
The hunger strike inside the Adelanto ICE facilities is one of at least five hunger strikes that have occurred at detention centers across the nation. L.A. TACO reported last week that at least 100 participants inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, and at least 20 people inside of the Desert View Annex, are on strike. There are 300 detainees inside of Delaney Hall facility in Newark, New Jersey.
“The hunger strike tells you it’s been a year and nothing has been changed. They’re at the last point of starving themselves. It’s going to keep getting worse if people don’t wake up,” Lupe Mendoza, a fast participant, told L.A. TACO.
“They made a difficult decision. They’re risking their own health, because their complaints, especially about all the concerning things happening inside these detention centers, aren’t being heard. This isn’t normal and we shouldn’t accept it as normal,” Bladimir Argueta, another participant, told LA TACO in Spanish.
The N. Alameda St. entrance has been the site of daily presence of demonstrators since June of last year, according to Katherine Carreño, one of the organizers of the fast. In June, federal immigration agents were observed bringing people they detained to the facility. There are two areas where immigration detainees are held, sections B-17 and B-18.
This is a developing story.
