Agents in Riot Gear Go After Hunger Strikers

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-01-23 11:31:00 UTC
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement seems to consider people starving themselves a dangerous enough threat to require an attack in riot gear.

After breaking the story of ICE wrongdoing and cover-ups in detainee deaths earlier this month, Nina Bernstein has another piece in the New York Times this week with reports of further abuse. Detainees in the Varick Federal Detention Center in Lower Manhattan launched a hunger strike, hunkered down, and wouldn't head for the mess hall. They gave guards a flier explaining they were protesting the delay in immigration reform and calling for the suspension of detentions for those whose family members were American citizens or legal residents. A recent Immigration Policy Center report touted the benefits of a family-based, rather than family-breaking, immigration system.

In response, detainees allege that ICE agents descended in riot gear, using pepper spray, beating detainees, and locking them in solitary confinement cells. One detainee refers to the assault as "all hell broke loose." Bernstein points out that a Department of Homeland Security spokesman denies there was an extended hunger strike -- though he does admit that a jail dormitory was investigated when detainees refused to leave. However, the corroboration of abuse by a number of detainees and ICE's poor track record on humane treatment and transparency undermines his public relations statement.

Some of the detainees Bernstein spoke to insisted on remaining anonymous due to fear of retaliation by ICE. "A lot of things are happening in the night --" one shared nervously, "people are being moved secretly." When will ICE agents stop going bump in the night and uphold humane, just treatment of detainees -- or, better yet, when will another branch of the government start holding them accountable?

Photo credit: Monica's Dad

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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