About 35 people, including Russian citizens, have begun a hunger strike at the El Valle immigration detention facility in the U.S. state of Texas. The protesters are complaining about prolonged detention, lack of necessary medical care, and threats from facility staff, relatives of detainees told the independent outlet Vot Tak. It is the third U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center to see a hunger strike involving Russian citizens since the start of October.
The Insider found in an official ICE report that inspectors had already identified two violations in September 2024 related to how El Valle handled hunger strikes. Some staff had not completed mandatory annual refresher training, and the files of some detainees did not record when their hunger strikes had ended.
Fifteen women began the current hunger strike on Oct. 11, and 20 men, including Russians, later joined them. The mother of one participant said many detainees had been held at the immigration center for more than six months and were using the protest to demand that their rights be respected.
One of the participants is Russian citizen Inna Yeremeeva. Her husband, Alexei, told Vot Tak that she was detained during an ICE raid in November 2025 while working as a long-haul truck driver; he said she has remained in custody since then. Alexei added that the facility’s employees had made racist remarks and threatened the hunger strikers.
“The administration tells them directly that there is only one way out of this detention center — deportation. They say, if you want, sit there and starve. If you die, we’ll carry you out and bury you.”
He said hunger strikers were not being offered food, had to ask for water, and were not being monitored by medical staff. He also said his wife had discovered a growth but had been unable to obtain an examination.
ICE inspectors previously found violations in handling hunger strikes
As The Insider found, ICE itself had previously documented problems with compliance at El Valle.
During an inspection from Sept. 10-12, 2024, ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight found that some employee records did not show completion of mandatory annual refresher training on hunger-strike procedures. Inspectors also found that files from earlier hunger strikes did not always specify when detainees had resumed eating.
Inspectors also found that some patients had not given properly documented consent before receiving certain psychotropic medications and identified shortcomings in annual staff training on suicide prevention. The latter was classified as a priority violation because of the potential consequences for detainee safety.
Under current ICE standards, a person who has not eaten for 72 hours has to be referred for a medical evaluation. Staff are required to monitor hunger strikers, check vital signs, and keep appropriate records. The rules also require that detainees be provided drinking water and regularly offered food.
A subsequent inspection of El Valle in March 2025 identified three more violations of detention standards. They involved the handling of personal property, procedures for monitoring detainees in temporary holding areas, and the organization of recreational activities.
In the same report, inspectors described the case of a detainee who required treatment from an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. The facility’s medical service was unable to find a specialist willing to perform the required procedure because of previously unpaid bills for treating ICE detainees. Inspectors nevertheless found no formal violations of medical-care standards and gave the facility an overall positive assessment.
The documents reviewed by The Insider show that shortcomings in staff preparation for hunger strikes and in medical record-keeping had already been raised in official inspections of the facility.
El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, is operated by the private U.S. company Management & Training Corporation, or MTC, which works under contract with ICE. The company specializes in managing prisons and immigration detention centers.
Third hunger strike in October, one organizer already deported to Russia
Similar protests previously began at the Winn detention center in Louisiana and at the D. Ray James facility in Georgia. Both are also operated by private companies (Winn is run by LaSalle Corrections, while D. Ray James is run by GEO Group).
In early October, at least 73 people at the D. Ray James center began a hunger strike —citizens of Russia, China, Sudan, and Afghanistan among them. The protesters demanded release while their immigration cases were being reviewed and complained of poor food, inadequate medical care, and indefinite detention lasting for months or even years.
Among the organizers was Russian asylum-seeker Idris Makhmudov, who had been in the U.S. immigration system since July 2024. On Sept. 28, a federal court rejected his petition challenging the legality of his detention, even though a magistrate judge had earlier recommended that he receive an individual bond hearing. As The Insider previously reported, news of Makhmudov’s deportation from the United States became public on Oct. 11. He had spent nearly 27 months in custody.
The Guardian also reported in August that U.S. authorities had sought permission in 2025 and 2026 to carry out forced medical procedures on at least 10 hunger strikers in immigration detention centers. At least three were force-fed, while in several other cases procedures were planned or protesters ended their hunger strikes under threat of such measures. Human rights organizations consider the forced feeding of hunger strikers a form of cruel treatment.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, U.S. authorities have stepped up migrant detentions and deportations, including those involving Russian asylum-seekers. The Insider previously reported that 127 Russian citizens were deported from the United States in 2025. Some had left Russia because of political persecution and their objection to the war in Ukraine.
