Seven House Democrats sent a sharply worded letter to federal immigration officials this week demanding answers about conditions inside a Texas immigration jail, where detained immigrants on a prolonged hunger strike say officials are retaliating against them and threatening force-feeding.
The letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE acting director David Venturella was led by Representative Delia Ramirez of Illinois and signed by Texas Representatives Greg Casar and Jasmine Crockett, among others. It seeks details about the detainee population and medical care at the El Valle detention facility in Raymondville and demands the strikers be released to their families and shielded from further detention and deportation.
El Valle has faced recent scrutiny over alleged harsh conditions. Strikers describe substandard medical care, undrinkable water and mistreatment by guards, and some are protesting prolonged detention, asking that their cases move faster or that they be transferred closer to loved ones.
"It is abundantly clear that DHS continues to demonstrate gross disregard for the health, dignity, personhood, and safety of our communities," the lawmakers wrote, adding that they remain "committed to conducting oversight, advocating for our constituents, and pursuing accountability." The reported conditions, they said, violate DHS and ICE detention standards "whether they arose through indifference or inability."
A DHS spokesperson said the department responds to official correspondence through official channels and that the representatives "should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these dangerous criminals from their districts" instead of vilifying law enforcement. The DHS did not provide proof that strikers whose relatives spoke with the Guardian have any criminal history.
The strike began on 11 October with more than two dozen immigrants from Russia, Cameroon and other countries, according to relatives and advocates. Four women and 10 to 20 men are still participating, family members said. El Valle is owned by the Willacy County Local Government Corporation and operated by the private prison company Management and Training Corporation, which referred questions to ICE.
One striker, Inna Eremeeva, an asylum seeker from Russia, arrived in the US in 2024 and was arrested at a Texas border patrol checkpoint in November 2025 while working as a truck driver. Her husband, Alexei, said through an interpreter that she "started having serious pain in her legs and her hips" and "feels a growth in her private areas" but "has been declined any medical care to figure out what is going on." He said officials told hunger-striking women they would be transferred to another ICE facility to be force-fed. The DHS said Eremeeva entered using the Biden administration's CBP One app and was "released in the country completely unvetted"; she remains detained while fighting deportation.
An ICE spokesperson called the allegations false: "No detainees are being force fed or threatened with force feeding." The agency said it delivers three meals daily to detainees' rooms during hunger strikes, with adequate water or other beverages, and "is committed to ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of all individuals in its custody."
Amaliia Gilmutdinova said her husband, Shokhrukh Abdullaev, another truck driver arrested at a Texas checkpoint in November 2025, "is very afraid to say anything" and is "very much afraid of being put back in isolation." The daughter of a 63-year-old striker with health problems, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation, said he calls her with panic attacks and that "the only thing he wants is to be able to see his family."
The letter comes amid growing ICE detention under the Trump administration's crackdown. Georgia senators have raised similar concerns about a hunger strike at the Folkston ICE detention center, where the Guardian reported a detained man died amid force-feeding threats the DHS denies. Savannah Kumar of the ACLU of Texas said detainees "are feeling hopeless and desperate in the black hole of ICE detention," citing a fifth circuit ruling that ICE detainees in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi cannot seek release on bond.
