Hundreds of immigrants detained in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington pending deportation proceedings started a hunger strike on Friday, March 7, 2014 to demand better living conditions and treatment. According to various ​news​ reports, the hunger strikers are seeking:

• Better treatment from guards
• Better food and living conditions
• Increased pay for work - detainees receive $1 a day for performing services which help run the detention center, including kitchen and janitorial work

The Northwest Detention Center is a private-for-profit prison run by the Geo Group, Inc. under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration & Customs Enforcement. The Tacoma facility is the 4th largest immigrant detention in the country (largest on west coast) with a capacity to hold 1,575 immigrants pending deportation proceedings. People held in immigration detention centers are not serving criminal sentences, but are awaiting a decision on whether they can remain in the U.S legally. However, they are held in prison-like conditions for months and sometimes years, separated from family members.

Support the hunger strikers and ask the Secretary of Homeland Security (Jeh Johnson), Immigration and Customs Enforcement Seattle Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office Director (Nathalie R. Asher), the President of GEO Corrections and Detention (John M. Hurley) to improve the living conditions and treatments of individuals detained in the Northwest Detention Center.

Sign the petition and share with your networks! Stand in solidarity with your immigrant brothers and sisters.