Shut Down ICE's Deadly Folkston Detention Center

Yet another person has died in ICE custody — and the Trump administration is planning to expand the very detention complex where it happened.

Luis Sandoval, a 48-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, died on October 23 at Georgia's Folkston D. Ray detention facility. He is reportedly the 60th person to die in ICE custody since Trump returned to office. His death is under investigation.

Just weeks earlier, approximately 500 people detained at the neighboring Folkston ICE Processing Center reportedly joined a hunger strike to protest dangerous living conditions. Detainees have described contaminated food, foul-smelling water, freezing cells, inadequate medical care, and retaliation against those who speak out.

Tell Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin: "Shut down the Folkston ICE detention complex, investigate the death and reported abuses, and protect the people being held there."

Both facilities are operated by GEO Group, a private prison corporation that profits from federal detention contracts. Despite years of complaints, the government has awarded a massive contract to expand the Folkston operation to approximately 3,000 beds.

Instead of responding to the hunger strikers' demands, officials have reportedly placed protesters in solitary confinement and threatened force-feeding. One Russian asylum seeker reportedly lost 21 pounds while refusing food. His wife says she fears for his life.

Human rights organizations are demanding answers. American Oversight and immigrant rights advocates have filed public records requests to investigate ICE's response to the hunger strike. Project South has called for an independent investigation into Sandoval's death and the immediate closure of Folkston.

Secretary Mullin oversees ICE and has the authority to direct a review of detention operations, halt expansion, and pursue closure. The people detained at Folkston need protection now, not another government promise to investigate later.

Add your name and demand that DHS shut down Folkston, ensure safe and lawful alternatives for those detained there, and investigate the deaths and abuses reported inside its walls.

The petition to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reads:

"Shut down the Folkston ICE detention complex, halt its expansion, and launch an independent investigation into Luis Sandoval's death and reported mistreatment of detainees. Ensure safe, humane, and lawful alternatives for everyone held there. No more deaths, no more abuse, and no more taxpayer-funded expansion of this troubled detention operation."