Approximately 500 detainees at the GEO Group-run Folkston ICE Processing Center in Charlton County, Georgia, launched a hunger strike protesting poor living conditions and alleged violations of asylum protocols while they await judicial hearings, according to family members, legal representatives, and detainee accounts. Attorney Samantha Hamilton of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta said about 372 men in the facility's F building and K5 pod are striking, along with an estimated 150 more in other buildings, with the protest timed ahead of an Oct. 6 facility inspection. Detainees reported undrinkable water causing rashes and hair loss, inadequate food, sleep conditions and medical care, and said many have been held for months or years despite following legal asylum procedures. The facility, where a detainee died in 2024 after what ICE's own report called inadequate medical care, is being expanded under a $47 million contract to become the largest permanent ICE detention center in the country.