“There are many people suffering here. This is the only way we have to raise our voice, this is a call to stop the suffering and respect our dignity as human beings,” read a statement written by the strikers that was read during an press conference held online Wednesday morning. It was put on by a coalition of advocacy groups.
The immigrants at the Adelanto ICE detention complex have not eaten since Tuesday, organizers said. They are demanding “due process, bond reform, improved conditions, adequate medical and mental health care, nutritious food, accountability for deaths, and the right to organize and communicate” according to their statement.
The 20 men on strike are all being held in the facility’s Desert View Annex processing center, which is one of the three facilities in the Adelanto detention complex, where immigrants who are detained await deportation or release. There are also reports of a hunger strike at the Adelanto Processing Facility West that began last Friday, according to the Community Defense Coalition, a grassroots immigration advocacy group who is in touch with people being held there through their families.
The Adelanto ICE facility is California’s largest immigration detention facility and currently holds over 2,000 people, according to the California Department of Justice. It is owned by GEO Group, a private corporation contracted to operate immigration detention facilities, prisons and mental health facilities around the country.
Earlier this month, a former GEO Group executive was named the acting director of ICE, replacing Todd Lyons who will soon retire.
Four people have died in the Adelanto facility between September 2025 and March 2026, according to a report from the California Department of Justice.