McFARLAND, Calif. — Chants rang outside the Golden State Annex facility in McFarland Wednesday evening as religious leaders and criminal justice advocates embarked on a pilgrimage to immigrant detention centers across California.
The coalition is calling for the release of detainees and the closure of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, where dozens are currently on hunger strike for the third time in recent years.
Hunger strikers are protesting alleged labor abuses, mistreatment and poor conditions within the ICE centers. The two Kern County facilities – Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde in Bakersfield – are operated by the for-profit prison contractor GEO Group, which has faced several lawsuits and congressional scrutiny.
Unlike prisons where those incarcerated have been sentenced by a jury or judge, detainees at ICE centers have typically already completed criminal sentences or did not commit crimes in the first place. Instead, most are awaiting determination on immigration cases that can take years to wind through backlogged courts.
Jose Ruben Hernandez spent 16 months inside Kern County detention centers, where he says he was subjected to inhumane treatment.
“We have to clean for nothing, doing hard labor for no pay,” he says. “As a detainee, I experienced and observed how we as non-citizens were treated like sub-humans.”
Hernandez is now helping to lead the protests against the centers into Southern California, which began with Wednesday’s stop in McFarland.
About 50 protesters held signs that read “California without cages” and “Keep American families together,” while others yelled chants like “Shut ICE down” and “Keep hope alive.”
The caravan is scheduled to next stop in Bakersfield on Thursday and will end in San Diego on Sunday.
