NJ.com: ICE detainees go on hunger strike in N.J amid coronavirus fears, lawyers say

“The hunger strike just underlines how deeply problematic ICE’s management of the situation is,” the joint statement said. “We are in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. ICE has done nothing to rise to the occasion but instead continues to put the lives of hundreds of people at risk.”

The statement says that attorneys from the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services and the Bronx Defenders, who often represent detainees in N.J., are hearing from detained immigrants in N.J. jails that they are being subjected to dangerous conditions, “putting them at further risk of contracting and spreading the COVID-19 virus.”

The public defender offices said they received a statement from a group of individuals incarcerated at the Essex County facility. The statement said that the point of the hunger strike was to petition for release, either on bond, bracelet monitoring or for those with final deportation orders who want to be deported, “get them on their plane ASAP.”

Read the full article here