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The Central Valley is where lots of food is grown, but right now, dozens of men are on a hunger strike there. They’re migrants detained at two privately-run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities — one is in Bakersfield, the other in McFarland nearby.
“Our basic needs are not being met,” says Oscar Rodriguez Picazo, one of the strikers. “We're requesting ICE to release us.”
Detainees say preceding the hunger strike, which began on February 17, there was a 10-month labor strike against living and working conditions at the two facilities, Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex. Detainees work eight-hour shifts — scrubbing bathrooms, doing laundry, and cutting hair — and are paid a dollar a day by GEO Group, the company that owns and operates the facilities.
“Some of those same detainees waging the labor strike began refusing all meals,” explains Farida Jhabvala Romero, labor correspondent for KQED. “It was more than 75 people who started the hunger strike, 42 detainees were on hunger strike as of this morning.”
The hunger strike came about after detainees claimed conditions did not improve in the facilities, despite filing formal complaints with multiple federal agencies. Jhabvala Romero says detainees felt like this was a “last resort.”
“You're really putting your health at risk when you don't eat for several days or weeks. … At least one detainee has been taken to the hospital with numbness in his hands, stomach pain, dizziness,” she says,...
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