Hunger strike spreads across three U.S. immigration detention centers, involving Russian detainees

More than three dozen detainees at the El Valle immigration detention facility in Texas have launched a hunger strike, with 15 women initiating the protest on October 11 and 20 men, including Russian nationals, joining later. The inmates allege substandard living conditions, lack of medical care, and claim that administrators have warned that deportation is the only way out, even threatening to bury those who die. This is the third detention center where hunger strikes have been reported, following collective complaints and a planned strike at the D. Ray James facility in Georgia and a similar action at the Winn facility in Louisiana, where an estimated 500 detainees are participating.

Russian citizen Idris Makhmudov, identified as an organizer in Georgia, was deported, and sources say around 40 protestors have been moved to solitary confinement. The protests highlight growing unrest over U.S. immigration detention practices and the treatment of foreign nationals.