A group of people detained at a private Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prison in Georgia launched a mass hunger strike this week to protest their prolonged detention and conditions there, according to advocates and family members.
Advocates estimate that at least 73 detained immigrants are participating in the hunger strike inside the Folkston D Ray James ICE processing center in southeast Georgia. The Folkston facility, a former state prison, is operated by private prison company GEO Group under a contract with ICE.
Some of the men participating in the hunger strike released a video and an open letter, calling for their release while they pursue their asylum and immigration cases. Two Russian asylum seekers detained at Folkston also released a document they authored describing what they claim were “violations” inside, including allegations of substandard medical care, threats made by GEO guards, moldy food and a lack of due process.
“Many of us have been separated from our families,” read the open letter, signed this summer by 45 detained immigrants and published this week, as dozens joined them in beginning a hunger strike. “We missed births, funerals, years of our lives while sitting behind fences without committing a single crime. »
The hunger strike appears to transcend nationality, language and race, according to the video, the letter and the detainees’ report. The majority of the men who signed the letter are asylum seekers from a wide range of countries, including Russia, China, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nepal and others.
One of the main organizers of the hunger strike, a Russian asylum seeker named Idris Makhmudov, was reportedly placed in solitary confinement this week, according to Monica Whatley, Georgia organizer for the Campaign to Shut Down the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
The letter further states: “We come from different countries, races, creeds (sic) and backgrounds, but we share one thing in common: we came to the United States seeking protection and have been detained ever since. »
The men claim in their letter that they were locked up for a long period of time, between 16 months and almost three years, from the time each arrived in the United States, “but were never charged with any crime.” They argue they should be free while their legal cases are reviewed by the immigration court system.
“Many of us have tried every legal avenue available to secure our release,” but without success, they say, adding that their letter is addressed to those who believe in “fairness and human dignity.”
“Innocent people can remain in detention for very long periods, without it being established in an individualized manner that they are dangerous or likely to flee,” deplore the signatories.
One of the men participating in the hunger strike is an asylum seeker from Yemen who suffers from lung cancer and has a child who is a US citizen, his advocates told the Guardian.
Reports of a hunger strike at the Folkston facility represent the latest protest at an ICE detention center as the Trump administration continues its aggressive crackdown on immigrants.
GEO Group referred all questions to ICE. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE’s parent agency, did not respond to detailed questions about the allegations or requests for comment.
ICE, along with other federal agencies and local officials responsible for making immigration-related arrests, have quietly increased their arrests nationwide.
As a result, increasing numbers of immigrants and asylum seekers are being detained in federal facilities like Folkston.
The Folkston facility opened in 1997, but began detaining people in ICE custody in 2018. Last year, Florida-based for-profit company GEO Group extended its contract with ICE to increase the facility’s capacity. The latest ICE data from July of this year shows that about 2,200 people were detained there.
The majority of Folkston inmates who signed the letter are seeking asylum.
The open letter includes the names, government-issued alien numbers, countries of origin and length of detention of the 45 men who signed it. All have been detained by ICE for at least a year. A Chinese man named Liang Sonji, who signed the letter, came to the United States and requested asylum in October 2023 and has been detained since.
“We understand that temporary detention may sometimes be necessary to verify identity or conduct background checks,” reads the open letter written by Makhmudov. “But detention lasting a year, two years or more without clear individual justification raises serious questions of fairness and reasonableness. »
The two Russian men who also sent a document about the conditions – Alexei Kovalko and Alexander Borovkov – accused an unnamed member of the facility’s medical staff of telling one of them: “I have no obligation to treat you; the only thing that matters to me is that you don’t drop dead. »
Kovalko and Borovkov also write to describe moldy food, foul-smelling water and other allegedly deficient conditions at the detention center, including leaky ceilings and plumbing problems. The document also states that some GEO employees at the Folkston facility are “xenophobic” and rude, and frequently threaten detained immigrants with solitary confinement.
GEO Group and ICE did not respond to questions about these allegations.
Since the Trump administration took office last year, there have been a series of hunger strikes at ICE detention centers, some of which have gained attention. Earlier this year, a group of inmates inside the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey, also run by GEO Group, launched a hunger strike. Protesters outside the facility, showing solidarity with the hunger strikers, were met with force by ICE and local authorities, making international headlines.
Similarly, the Guardian reported on individual cases of hunger strikes across ICE’s detention network and the covert response of ICE officials, including revealing that ICE had quietly asked the court to order “involuntary medical procedures” to be provided to 19 hunger strikers since January 2025, including force-feeding, a practice widely considered torture.
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