Advocates say hunger strike at midstate immigration facility has hit a week

(Bern Township) — For months, immigration advocates have protested a controversial immigration facility in the midstate, and they now say a hunger strike has been going on for a week.

Advocates with Make the Road PA say nearly two dozen women at the Berks County Residential Center haven’t eaten since last Monday. 

The facility in Bern Township holds women and their families while they go through the asylum process.

The group’s Adanjesus Marin says he’s talked with them through a fence, and each has lost between three and 12 pounds.

“They are tired and they are frustrated and they are sad, but they are also determined. They have indicated that they’re going to stay strong, and that they’re doing this for their children so they have no choice,” says Marin.

He’s in Martha’s Vineyard today, trying to reach President Obama and convince him to shut down the facility.

“It is clear as President Obama has indicated that he is in firm control of his immigration policy and we have also tried every other avenue, at some point, you just have to go to the guy on top,” says Marin.

Marin and others have called the facility a prison.

It’s run by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which says it’s monitoring the situation. It says by its count, 14 people are on hunger strike, and medical personnel are on site.

Marin says the mothers plan to stay on their hunger strike because their children are suffering, and they want to be freed while they wait for an asylum hearing.