PoliticsICE Detainees in Georgia Go on Hunger Strike in Protest of Poor Conditions: Watch
Tom Homan claimed ICE has industry-best care of detainees.
Oct. 8 2026, Published 5:43 p.m. ET
Detainees at a Georgia ICE facility have launched a mass hunger strike to protest prolonged detainment and poor living conditions, according to family members and advocates.
The hunger strike comes days after Border Czar Tom Homan boasted about treating detainees with "industry best" care.
Detainees released a video describing conditions at the facility.
Detainees Claim They've Been Held Over 3 Years Without Being Charged With a Crime
ICE facilities have long been protested for providing poor care.
Per reports, 73 detainees at Folkston D Ray James ICE processing center in southeast Georgia are participating in the strike. The facility is a former prison run by the privately owned GEO Group under a contract with ICE.
Some of the strikers are asylum seekers who claim to have never been on U.S. soil. They released a video and an open letter claiming they have been held at the facility for over a year, and in some cases over two years, without having committed a crime.
"We are victims of the 'arcane United States immigration system,' which allows the government to detain us indefinitely for any reason," the letter reads.
Strikers Allege Horrific 'Violations'
Detainees alleged they're subjected to moldy food and poor medical care.
The group demands to be released so they can pursue their immigration and asylum cases. They also allege various "violations" at the facility, including substandard medical care, threats from guards, moldy food and a lack of due process.
One organizer of the hunger strike, Russian asylum seeker Idris Makhmudov, has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement as punishment, per advocate Monica Whatley, an organizer for the campaign to Shut Down the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
“Many of us have tried every available legal path to seek release from detention,” the letter reads. “Innocent people can remain in detention for very long periods, without any individualized finding that they are dangerous or likely to flee.”
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Tom Homan Claims ICE Has 'Highest Detention Standards'
The complaint came just before Homan bragged about ICE.
The letter and video were released on October 4.
The next day, CBS ran an interview with Border Czar Tom Homan, who claimed ICE has the "highest detention standards in industry, higher than any state or federal institution."
"No one ever talks about how many lives that ICE saves in detention when they found a serious medical issue that the alien didn’t even know about and we treat," he complained. "When I was ICE director, I think we spent almost a billion dollars on medical care.”
Death Rate in ICE Facilities Skyrocketed Under Trump
The rate of people dying in ICE facilities has soared under Trump.
His comments drew renewed scrutiny on the number of deaths in ICE facilities, as 57 people have died in ICE custody under two years of Donald Trump's administration. Under four years of Joe Biden's administration, that number totaled only 23.
Increased arrests alone do not account for the spike in deaths. The rate of deaths per detainee is also higher than under Biden. Physicians for Human Rights argues that poor conditions, inadequate staffing and gaps in health care are all contributing to the spiking rate of deaths.
