Mothers launch hunger strike in migrant family detention center
WASHINGTON _ Nearly two dozen women held at a Berks County, Pa., migrant family detention center have launched a hunger strike to protest their and their children's long detentions _ some which have lasted over a year.
The 22 women say they've taken action in response to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson's recent pronouncement that the average length of stay at family detention centers was 20 days or less.
"We want to disprove this information," the women wrote in a letter to Johnson that McClatchy obtained. "If it is necessary to sacrifice our lives so that our children can have freedom: WE WILL DO IT!"
Referring to themselves as "Madres Berks," the women say they've been held from 60 days to over 365 days. They care for 25 children ages 2 to 16. The majority of the mothers and children have been held for more than 200 days, they say.
Department of Homeland Security Officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
_McClatchy Washington Bureau
