Hundreds of noncitizens detained in immigration facilities across the United States have launched hunger strikes to protest widespread due process violations, severe legal isolation, and deteriorating conditions under the Trump administration, according to advocacy groups and detained individuals. At least 500 people have reportedly joined the protests across multiple states, challenging conditions that human rights organizations describe as life-threatening.
The wave of demonstrations spans facilities within a network administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its private contractors. Advocates note that while minor protests routinely occur inside detention centers, the scale and frequency of current actions reflect a profound breakdown in legal access and basic humane treatment.
Josefina Mora-Cheung, director of organizing at La Resistencia, a grassroots support organization for detainees at the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWPIC) in Tacoma, Washington, pointed to a sharp increase in local actions. Last year, the group documented 16 protests, mostly involving single individuals. This year, the organization has already recorded 18 separate hunger strikes involving roughly 25 people at the NWPIC facility alone, with the most recent strike concluding on July 20.
“This year we’ve seen such a skyrocketing of numbers that indicates how much people are willing to put their lives at risk in order to call attention to these conditions that are ultimately life-threatening for people,” Mora-Cheung said. “People are not willing to give up so easily or to have their spirits broken.”
Widespread Unrest Across National Detention Facilities
Hunger strikes and labor protests have surfaced at multiple facilities nationwide. Documented locations include the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California, the North Lake Processing Center in Michigan, the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, the Prairieland Detention Center and Camp East Montana in Texas, the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico, the ICE unit at the Louisiana State Penitentiary known as “Angola,” and Delaney Hall in New Jersey.
Grassroots organizers report that actions have likely occurred across a broader portion of the 425 jails utilized by ICE and private detention operators. However, ICE officials frequently deny that strikes are taking place and reportedly use intimidation and threats to quell the protests. ICE did not respond to requests for comment regarding the widespread actions.
Detainees routinely cite severe operational failures within the facilities, including unsanitary food and water, insufficient medical treatment, physical abuse, and direct retaliation for filing grievances. Many also highlight rampant racial bias and an absolute absence of judicial transparency.
Legal Isolation and Constitutional Complaints
The protests highlight severe structural barriers to legal defense. Rogelio Bolufé Izquierdo, a Cuban national who participated in multiple hunger strikes—including a nine-day refusal of food at the Torrance facility—described a system entirely cut off from judicial oversight. According to La Resistencia, Bolufé was initially held at the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in Florida and transferred nine times in retaliation for organizing.
Bolufé spoke over the phone from Guayaquil, Ecuador, following his deportation in June, despite having an active asylum case and a pending immigration court appeal. He stated that detainees at Torrance and other facilities are effectively blocked from consulting with legal counsel, stripped of court documents, and denied access to mail services required to track deportation proceedings.
“That was one of the main reasons we went on hunger strike,” Bolufé said, adding that “the legal proceedings do not follow due process. They are a farce. The Fifth Amendment does not exist in U.S. immigration proceedings.”
Conditions in long-term detention have drawn sharp criticism from humanitarian observers. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 52 individuals have died in ICE custody since the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Organizers and monitors emphasize that this mortality rate is nearly four times that of the Biden administration and more than two and a half times that of the first Trump administration.
Major Actions and Retaliatory Measures at Delaney Hall and Torrance
The largest documented hunger strike of the year took place at Delaney Hall in New Jersey, where over 300 individuals engaged in a multi-week labor and hunger strike that ended in June. Participants condemned arbitrary bond denials and intense pressure to sign deportation documents without legal review.
“We see with profound helplessness and frustration that the right to due process & legal counsel were violated, and benefits granted in the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution were unacknowledged,” wrote 25 Delaney Hall strikers in a public letter. Leonardo Villalba, identified as the author of the letter, was summarily transferred to another detention facility following its release.
Jenny García, a campaign coordinator at the American Friends Service Committee’s New Jersey Immigrant Rights Program, stated that facility agents responded to the Delaney Hall strike by cutting off external communications, threatening case outcomes, and deploying physical force and pepper spray.
At the Torrance facility, Bolufé described extreme punitive measures, noting that hunger strikers were stripped naked, placed in cold holding cells, and subjected to continuous 24-hour illumination. The Innovation Law Lab has similarly documented these cold isolation units at Torrance, classifying the practice as torture.
Despite these harsh conditions, advocacy coordinators point to tangible gains secured through collective action. Strikers at NWPIC and Delaney Hall have achieved individual case reviews, releases from solitary confinement, and, in some instances, full release from custody. Delaney Hall participants also secured $12 million in pro bono legal assistance, according to Mora-Cheung.
“This is strong,” García said regarding the solidarity among detained individuals. “What’s happening inside is the best of humanity.”