Mothers Detained at Immigration Facility in Texas Stage Hunger Strike
LatestSeventy-eight women being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Texas are demanding their release, and around 40 have launched a Holy Week hunger and work strike. The women are mostly Central American and are seeking asylum in the United States. They are being held in detention with their children. At least two women on hunger strike have reportedly been placed in isolation, along with their children.
Colorlines reports that they received a Spanish-language petition from the 78 women, who are being held in detention at the Karnes County Residential Center, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility that’s operated by a private company, the GEO Group. The women, according to Colorlines, “have all been interviewed by immigration officials and have established a credible fear of persecution or torture if they were to be deported.” But some have not been given the opportunity to pay a bond yet to get out of Karnes; others say their bonds are far too high for them to pay. (Karnes used to hold asylum seekers without bond, until a federal judge put a stop to that practice in February.) The women are demanding their release, saying they won’t work, send their children to school or use any services at the facility until they’re given the opportunity to go before a judge and have their asylum pleas heard.