Immigrant Detainees: Geo Group and Customs Enforcement

immigrant detainees: According to the lawsuit, Jesus Chavez Flores is one of more than 120 immigrant detainees at the facility who began a hunger strike Feb. 7 to protest the conditions of their confinement, including the quality of the food they are served and that the prisoners are paid just 1 per day to perform janitorial, kitchen, laundry or other work there, according to Metro News. After one guard falsely identified Chavez as an organizer of the hunger strike, another guard punched him in the eye to retaliate, and he's been held in isolation alone 23 hours per day since Feb. 10, the ACLU said. The organization sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the GEO Group, which operates the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. It added that he continues to have trouble opening his eye, his vision is blurry and that his requests for medical treatment have been rebuffed.ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said the agency did not immediately have any comment about Chavez's allegations. Chavez, 34, is originally from Mexico, ACLU spokesman Doug Honig said in an email. Pablo E. Paez with the GEO Group told The Associated Press in an email Friday that the company strongly denies the allegations. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.