ICE detainees launch hunger strike to demand more soap and sanitizer
Migrants at an ICE detention center in New Jersey launched a hunger strike last week, protesting a lack of hygiene products like soap, crucial to preventing the spread of Covid-19. Particularly galling: The facility provides hand sanitizer to guards, but not to detainees. ICE distributes one bar of soap per person per week, but anyone who needs more must pay for it at the commissary—hardly an encouragement to wash hands regularly. Health officials have made vocal calls to release detained immigrants, particularly those with underlying health problems—detainees often live in crowded quarters, making social distancing impossible—but the agency has yet to budge. ProPublica reports.
