Civil Liberties

Reports of Abuse Pour Out of Federal Immigration Detention Centers

Deaths in ICE detention have hit a two-decade high, and allegations of medical neglect and poor conditions continue to surge.

C.J. Ciaramella | 4.22.2026 1:36 PM

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(Katie Blankenship/U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida)

Hunger strikes, photos of bruised detainees, congressional investigations—allegations of neglect, abuse, and wretched conditions are piling up inside federal immigration detention centers as the Trump administration continues its mass deportation campaign.

Yesterday, detainees at the North Lake Processing Center, a privately run detention center in Baldwin, Michigan, announced they were launching a hunger strike to protest poor living conditions and lack of due process.

"We demand competent doctors, better medical care—the food here is absolute garbage—and, above all, an end to the procedural delays we are suffering through inside these walls," a North Lake detainee said in a translated statement emailed by No Detention Centers in Michigan, an immigrant advocacy group. "We are being held prisoner arbitrarily. The majority of us meet all the requirements to be released, yet judges capriciously deny us bond and the basic rights to which we are entitled. We need to get out of here and to be treated like human beings."

The North Lake detainees are not alone. PennLive reported last week that roughly 100 men detained at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, also launched a hunger strike after staff ignored a detainee who threw up and passed out.

"He vomited a green substance and fainted," a "source inside the facility" told PennLive. "His body was white. He was shaking and sweating and officials paid no attention to him."

"We have found worms in our water, bugs in our food and today I found a black substance in........

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