On Tuesday afternoon, around 30 supporters gathered outside North Lake, banging drums and chanting, hoping detainees could hear them.
Erin Madden Reed drove over from Ludington.
Reed: Everyone who’s in here, their humanity is being eroded… the people who work here, the people who are being held here unlawfully. The further we get down that road, the scarier it will get.
There are around 1,400 detainees in Baldwin. Ahmad Alnajdawi is one of them. He’s from Jordan and he was arrested in Michigan.
He is participating in the hunger strike, along with 300 of the men in his unit, he says, because he doesn’t know why he hasn’t been deported yet.
Alnajdawi: I don’t know why I’m sitting here, I want deportation. I’m not fighting my case, I’m not applying for bond, I’m waiving my right for asylum, appeal, for everything… I just want to go back to my home.
The detainees on a hunger strike are protesting long stays at the facility, slow communication from ICE and some of the living conditions at the facility.
Diana Marin is an Ann-Arbor based attorney with clients at North Lake Processing Center who told her about the strike.
Marin: There are folks that have been there for far too long, even though they have no criminal history, no criminal record, that justifies their detention or their incarceration.
Hundreds of detainees have fought to be released with habeas corpus petitions … meaning they were unlawfully detained … and many have won.
According to the most recent data from ICE, the average stay at North Lake is 49 days … though advocates, attorneys, and detainees confirm many detainees have been there for almost six months.
ICE and GEO Group did not respond in time for publication.
