A migrant advocates group says immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and housed at an Eloy correctional facility are on a hunger strike in protest of conditions.
Up until about mid-summer, the privately run La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy mainly housed California convicts. But on July 24, prison owner CoreCivic, Inc. entered into a new contract with the federal government, agreeing to rapidly transfer housing for immigrants detained by ICE under the new White House policies.
Immigrant advocates with Puente Arizona say more than 100 of those detainees began a hunger strike Monday afternoon in protest of what they are calling mistreatment.
They have demanded the prison's warden uphold human rights and end alleged abuse by prison guards, allow inmates access to showers and bathrooms and offer three meals a day.
Francisca Porchas, a community leader with Puente, joined The Show to talk about this.
We also heard back from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson, who said in an email that there is no hunger strike.
We will continue to follow this story as it evolves.
