Hunger Strike Erupts at Remote Michigan ICE Prison as Migrants Demand Basic Rights

Hundreds of immigrant men imprisoned at North Lake Processing Center, a remote ICE detention facility in Baldwin, Michigan, began a hunger strike on April 20, demanding their rights to due process, edible food, and an end to relentless sleep deprivation. Advocates from across Michigan gathered outside the prison to show solidarity and amplify the strikers’ urgent calls for accountability.

The North Lake Processing Center is one of the largest immigrant prisons in the country, currently holding around 1,400 detainees. Hidden away in a small town known for outdoor recreation, the facility is operated by the GEO Group, a notorious private prison company. Originally closed by the Biden administration in 2022, it was reopened in June 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign to ramp up deportations and detain more immigrants.

Conditions inside North Lake are reportedly abysmal. Attorney Diana Marin, who represents detainees in habeas corpus petitions, describes a brutal environment where lights are only turned off from midnight to 5 a.m., but guards use flashlights and keep radios blasting, making sleep nearly impossible. Food is scarce and of poor quality, with detainees consistently reporting hunger. Medical care is shockingly inadequate; in one recent case, a man with a severe abscess was given only ibuprofen instead of antibiotics, a pattern Marin says is typical.

Deaths in ICE detention facilities are at record highs nationwide, often linked to medical neglect. At North Lake, the December death of Bulgarian detainee Nenko Stanev Gantchev remains shrouded in uncertainty, with his family alleging he was denied proper care.

Beyond the physical conditions, detainees face crushing uncertainty about their cases. Many have been held for months or even a year without clear information. Volunteers like Isidro from Asamblea Popular in Detroit report that detainees call their hotline desperate for any updates, sometimes hoping operators can find information online that ICE refuses to provide.

The hunger strike, which has spread across several units at North Lake, is not an isolated incident. JR Martin of No Detention Centers in Michigan notes that hunger strikes have long been a form of resistance at this facility, with similar protests occurring between 2019 and 2022. The strike at North Lake coincides with a hunger strike at another GEO Group-run facility in Pennsylvania, highlighting systemic abuses across private ICE detention centers.

Confirming details about the strike is difficult due to strict monitoring of detainee communications and fears of retaliation. Still, the strike embodies a desperate assertion of dignity and rights by people trapped in a brutal system designed to break them down.

North Lake Processing Center is a stark reminder of the ongoing human cost of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the complicity of private prison companies profiting from misery. As long as these conditions persist, hunger strikes and resistance will continue to be the only recourse for those denied justice behind razor wire.