U.S. Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have urged federal officials to launch an immediate investigation into the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Charlton County, located 50 miles southwest of Brunswick. The senators' call for a probe, outlined in a letter last Thursday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and the agency’s inspector general, follows reports of alleged medical neglect and retaliation against detainees participating in a hunger strike.
Reports from local advocates, cited by Senators Ossoff and Warnock, indicate that at least 13 hunger strikers were placed in solitary confinement. While this specific assertion could not be independently confirmed, the wife of one detainee told The Current GA last week that her husband, a hunger striker, had been placed in isolation. Attempts to contact detention center officials on Saturday were unsuccessful.
The hunger strike, reportedly involving about 500 detainees, began in the first week of October. Detainees protested facility conditions and what lawyers representing some of them described as violations of U.S. law for processing asylum seekers. One detainee, in an audio recording obtained by The Current GA earlier this month, voiced concerns about food, sleep conditions, medical care, and the length of their detention, stating, “We are not serving criminal sentences. We are asking the United States for protection.”
Beyond investigating retaliation, the senators asked DHS to ensure the facility is complying with federal detention standards. They also requested an unannounced inspection of the detention facility and asked Secretary Mullin to disclose how many hunger strikers have received medical evaluations or offsite hospital care. The letter was also addressed to J. David Donahue, CEO of the GEO Group, which operates the Folkston center.
Adding to the scrutiny, ICE announced on Saturday that 48-year-old Salvadoran man Luis Sandoval died at the Folkston facility early Friday morning. He was found with a ligature around his neck. ICE stated an investigation, including an autopsy, would be conducted. The statement did not specify whether Sandoval was a participant in the hunger strike. Sandoval’s death marks the second fatality at Folkston this year; Jaspal Singh died on April 15, 2024, with an ICE review indicating that medical care contributed to his death.
Daniela Rodriguez, co-founder and executive director at Migrant Equity Southeast, supported the senators' inquiry. She stated, “We are also deeply concerned about reports of punishment and retaliation against those speaking out. We hope this inquiry will be the first step toward transparency, accountability, and meaningful action to protect the human rights, dignity and well-being of every person detained.”
The GEO Group has operated the Folkston immigrant detention center since 2017. In June 2024, ICE awarded the company a $47 million contract to consolidate the facility with the D. Ray James Correctional Facility, expanding the complex to accommodate 3,000 beds, which would make it the largest immigrant detention center in the U.S. by 2025.
The Folkston facility has a history of federal detention standard violations, receiving the highest number during the first Trump administration. In 2019 alone, ICE inspectors recorded 38 violations, ranging from poor medical care to food handling and mistreatment of detainees.
The senators also specifically asked Mullin whether ICE or the GEO Group has sought or obtained any court order for involuntary feeding or hydration of any detainee. Polina Chertushkina, wife of Russian national detainee Andrei Gerdiukov, expressed gratitude for the senators' intervention, noting her husband and other hunger strikers were moved for medical examinations in preparation for “possible forced feeding.” This is not the first hunger strike at the facility; in 2018, Indian and other South Asian migrants protested prolonged detention and alleged inhumane practices by ICE.
