(John Moore/Getty Images)
By Curtis Brodner
(HACKENSACK, N.J.) Two detainess who are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and are on hunger strike will be transferred from Bergen County Jail in New Jersey to Batavia Federal Detention Facility in Buffalo (BFDF), according to advocates and attorneys.
One of the men has been on hunger strike for 26 days and has lost 40 pounds in the process, according to a press release from the advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants.
Freedom for Immigrants claims Bergen County Jail and ICE have repeatedly retaliated against detainees on hunger strike with denial of water, medical care, heat and access to windows. The group also says a rodent infestation has deteriorated the quality of life in the jail.
A Facebook post from the Bergen County Sheriff's office claimed the condition of the detainees' living space is acceptable. The office also contradicted the detainee's attorneys, alledging "inmates claiming to be on a hunger strike have actually been eating. They are medically evaluated daily and none are suffering from malnutrition."
Activist Thria Bernabe from Ridgewood for Black Liberation worries the move is an attempt to find a federal judge willing to order the force-feeding of the detainees. It wouldn’t be the first time ICE has transferred a prisoner in order to break a hunger strike.
In 2018, ICE transferred Thiodore Galitsa, a Ukrainian immigrant on hunger strike, from a North Jersey detention center to a center in El Paso, Texas, that was well-known for force-feeding detainees on hunger strike, according to WNYC. Galitsa was indeed force-fed there.
“The transfer of people on hunger strike is also alarming given ICE’s recent history of transferring people from the Bergen County Jail to different jurisdictions for purposes of obtaining orders from federal courts to force-feed those exercising their First Amendment rights,” said Bernabe.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for ICE said, “To accommodate various operational demands, ICE routinely transfers detainees within its detention network based on available resources and the needs of the agency.”
The coronavirus pandemic is also a concern when moving inmates between facilities.
In May, immigration lawyers sued BFDF, the detention center where the two inmates are to be transferred, for allegedly failing to enforce guidelines to protect medically vulnerable immigrants during an outbreak of 49 coronavirus cases , according to the Times Union.
“Transferring those putting their bodies on the line for a chance of freedom is a clear act of retaliation,” said Tania Mattos, policy and northeast monitoring manager at Freedom for Immigrants. “The process separates people from their network of support, worsens the COVID-19 pandemic behind bars and is directly responsible for the record number of deaths in ICE detention this year."
Protesters have blocked traffic outside of Bergen County Jail daily in solidarity with the hunger strike.
Bergen County Jail did not answer a request for comment.