cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/48271069

Immigrants’ rights advocates say about 30 women held at Delaney Hall joined ongoing hunger and labor strikes at the Newark detention center on Wednesday, adding gender-specific demands that included the firing of a female guard they accuse of sexually assaulting 10 female detainees.

Advocates from groups belonging to the ICE Out of New Jersey coalition told reporters outside Delaney Hall on Thursday that the women were essentially picking up the slack for an initial group of about 300 mostly male detainees who launched the strikes last month, before most of them were transferred out of Delaney Hall in recent days.

“We know that the strike started on May 22, and some of the women were already participating in that, just to be clear, but it’s just that more women in the unit have now entered the strike,” said Cat Adorno, a volunteer with Cosecha, a coalition member group.

“Some of these demands, which can also be found on our website, include everything from improving conditions in the center, such as fixing the bathrooms, such as making sure there’s drinkable water, to also just demanding the freedom of all the women inside, starting with women under the age of 21, all the mothers, right, and all the women with medical conditions."

One of those women, Adorno said, is “paralyzed and using a wheelchair.”