The Hunger Strike at Adelanto Detention Center Is a Warning We Cannot Ignore

By Javier Hernandez, Executive Director, Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice

The hunger strike currently unfolding inside the Adelanto Detention Center should alarm every person in California. When people are willing to risk their health and their lives to protest the conditions they are living under, that is not a political stunt. That is desperation. That is a warning.

For nearly a decade, our organization, alongside a broad coalition of advocates, families, faith leaders, and directly impacted community members, has fought to shut down the Adelanto Detention Center. Throughout that time, we have consistently raised concerns about medical neglect, abuse, unsafe conditions, retaliation, and the broader dehumanization that defines immigrant detention in this country.

And throughout that time, people have continued to suffer inside those walls.

The current hunger strike is not happening in isolation. It is the latest chapter in a long history of people detained at Adelanto speaking out about conditions that no human being should be forced to endure. People inside have described inadequate medical care, fear, isolation, retaliation, and treatment that strips them of dignity. These are not new allegations. They are part of a pattern that has existed for years.

At the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, we have worked alongside directly impacted families and organizers to expose these conditions because we understood early on what Adelanto represented. It was never just another detention center. It became a symbol of a system that normalizes suffering and asks the public to look away.

During the Biden administration, we came closer than ever to shutting Adelanto down. There was real momentum. Communities across California demanded action. Impacted families organized tirelessly. National attention grew. For the first time, closure felt within reach.

But there was also a coordinated effort to keep the facility open. Among those advocating for its continuation were sectors of organized labor that argued the detention center should remain operational in the name of protecting jobs. Letters were sent to the Biden administration urging it not to close the facility.

That moment exposed a difficult but necessary question for all of us: What does solidarity actually mean?

Because worker solidarity cannot stop at a paycheck while people inside a detention center suffer. The reality is that GEO Group harms everyone—detained immigrants, families, surrounding communities, and even workers themselves. These corporations profit from instability, incarceration, and political fear. That is not sustainable economic development. That is dependence on human suffering.

At the same time, this movement has also shown us something hopeful. Even within labor, there are workers and local leaders who have begun challenging these systems and questioning contracts tied to detention. There are people willing to confront uncomfortable truths and push for something better.

At some point, California must decide whether it truly believes in dignity and human rights, or whether those values stop at the walls of an immigration detention facility.

For us, the answer is clear.

Adelanto should be shut down.