{"id":377460,"date":"2023-12-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?post_type=newspack_nl_cpt&p=377460"},"modified":"2026-03-27T10:09:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:09:46","slug":"migrants-california-hunger-strike","status":"publish","type":"newspack_nl_cpt","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_es\/newsletter\/migrants-california-hunger-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Huelga de hambre de inmigrantes en California pone de relieve el tratamiento"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jos\u00e9 Rub\u00e9n Hern\u00e1ndez G\u00f3mez en su casa en Lodi el 13 de diciembre de 2023. Foto de Fred Greaves para CalMatters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Nota de programaci\u00f3n:<\/em><\/strong> WhatMatters is taking a well-deserved holiday break and will return to your mailboxes on Tuesday, Jan. 2.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At various times throughout 2023, California was at the center of the debate about how states should approach their migrant populations. In June, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off a political squabble with Gov. Gavin Newsom after taking credit for sending 36 asylum-seeking migrants to Sacramento<\/a>. The capital city\u2019s under-resourced response sharply contrasted that of Los Angeles<\/a>, which received more than 900 migrants from Republican states since June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And earlier this month, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to request another $3 million in funding<\/a> for a welcome center that assists migrants. From September through November, U.S. border agents released more than 42,000 migrants onto county streets, as charities struggle to offer services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the latest disclosures about the immigration system come from Justo Robles<\/a> de CalMatters Divisi\u00f3n de California<\/a> team, who spoke to Jose Ruben Hernandez Gomez<\/a>, a Mexican-born permanent legal resident. He is among the California detainees who in 2022 present\u00f3 una demanda colectiva<\/a> alleging forced labor against the private prison operator GEO Group and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the detention of immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then this week, Hernandez Gomez filed a complaint (a precursor to a potential lawsuit) against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, seeking $1 million in personal injury damages. He alleges that in March during a hunger strike to protest conditions at a Bakersfield detention center operated by GEO Group, he was “violently dragged” and sent to another center in Texas, where he says he was shackled and threatened with force-feeding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From January through October, nearly 400 other grievances have been filed by detainees<\/a> about California detention facilities, half of them about mistreatment and living conditions, according to a tally by the ACLU of Northern California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2019, Gov. Newsom signed a bill in an attempt to ban private prisons<\/a> and immigration detention facilities from operating in California. But a federal appeals court struck down the law as unconstitutional, allowing GEO Group facilities in California to continue operating under a $1.5 billion, 15-year federal contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he returned home to Lodi in April after 16 months in detention, Hernandez Gomez says that he is still \u201cnot free.\u201d He walks with a cane and says he suffers from neurological problems, flashbacks and persistent nightmares, and often cries himself to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n