Civil rights organizations call for independent investigation into Michigan ICE detention center

The ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center are calling on Congress to require an independent investigation into the ICE detention center in Baldwin, Mich. amid a hunger strike by detainees that has been ongoing since Monday. 

The organizations said that they have been in contact with “numerous people detained at the North Lake Processing Center who described similar inhumane conditions.” 

Nenko Stanev Gantchev died while in detention at North Lake in December, and the conditions around his death remain unclear, despite repeated attempts by Democratic members of Congress to seek answers.

“This is all driven by the Trump administration’s cruel and xenophobic mass deportation agenda of rounding up and warehousing longtime members of our communities, forcing them to either endure indefinite detention under inhumane conditions or, out of desperation, to make the devastating choice to leave their families and communities behind,” said Loren Khogali, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan. 

The facility is contracted to ICE, but is privately owned by the GEO Group, which has nearly two dozen facilities nationwide where ICE is the primary customer, according to SEC reports from the company. The two organizations emphasized that when the GEO Group previously operated North Lake as a prison, there were six reported hunger strikes by incarcerated individuals over conditions including inadequate medical care and insufficient food.

“We opposed the reopening of North Lake precisely because we feared that what is now happening would happen,” Khogali continued. “North Lake’s conditions and practices fall dangerously short of both constitutional mandates and federal standards, and we are calling for an immediate independent investigation.”

The ACLU and Michigan Immigrant Rights Center are calling on Congress to require that health care experts conduct an independent medical audit of North Lake, including confidential interviews with people detained and access to medical records. They are also calling on federal elected officials to conduct an oversight visit to the North Lake detention center, specifically speaking with detainees taking part in the hunger strike to ensure that retaliatory action is not being taken against them.

The hunger strike, which is reportedly due to poor conditions, including a lack of medical care, as well as prolonged detention, also includes some detainees striking from their jobs within the detention facility, such as cleaning and laundry. As of Tuesday morning, about 200 male detainees were participating in the hunger strike. 

“Detained people seeking legal assistance share their stories with us every day, and we are gravely concerned about the safety and wellbeing of the people held by the government,” Susan Reed, director of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said. “We urge immediate action to improve conditions and release the many who are detained needlessly.”