Due Process at U.S. Immigrant Detention Centers Called into Question by Hunger Strike

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

(Photo Courtesy of KGBT-TV)

LOS FRESNOS, Texas - Kenson Lima, a legal U.S. permanent resident has just ended a hunger strike in protest of his incarceration by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  Lima was detained by ICE officials after being arrested on domestic violence charges. Those charges were later dismissed, though Lima remains in an ICE detention center. 

ICE officials maintain that because Lima was convicted of domestic violence in 2007, his permanent residency is in jeopardy.  Lima served 30 days for the domestic violence conviction and claims that his due process rights have been violated in his current detention.  However, ICE says that the relevant immigration law requires that any immigrant who commits a crime involving moral turpitude within 5 years of entering the U.S. be removed. 

Lima says that he has paid his debt to society and that he should not be punished again for the 2007 crime.  The Southwest Workers Union has been protesting Lima's incarceration by ICE in front of the federal court house in Allen, Texas to shed light on discrimination immigrants face.  Protesters insist that Lima's conviction has nothing to do with what they consider to be a "fundamental human right" - "due process". 

Lima began his hunger strike as his deportation proceedings began.  A letter Lima wrote explaining his decision to begin a hunger strike claims that his due process rights were violated and that his wife and two daughters are financially and emotionally at risk.  A U.S. District Court judge on July 1 ordered medical treatment for Lima who risked dehydration, kidney damage, seizures, cardiac damage and even death. 

(Photo Courtesy of KGBT-TV)

Southwest Workers Union says that a hunger strike had been ongoing at the detention center by multiple detainees since late April.  Another detainee facing deportation to Haiti claimed that detainees were denied due process, medical attention, legal resources, and were subjected to physical and verbal abuse.

Amnesty International is currently investigating the detention center where Lima is being held. An Amnesty International report on immigration in the United States, titled Jailed Without Justice details hardships that immigrant detainees face. 

The report shows that 84 percent of those detained have no lawyers and "immigrants can be detained for months or years without any meaningful judicial review despite international human rights standard requiring such review." 

For more information, please see:

The Brownsville Herald - Detention Center Detainee Ends Hunger Strike - 7 July 2009

Dallas Morning News - Judge Lifts Order After Detainee Ends Strike - 6 July 2009

KGBT-TV - Jailed Immigrant Ends Hunger Strike - 6 July 2009

KGBT-TV - Immigrant Claims "No Due Process" - 6 July 2009

Express News - Group Interviews Detained People - 4 July 2009