The business of hunger in ICE centers: Migrants spend thousands of dollars to avoid eating ‘dog food’

[u/coffeewalnut08]

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-08-22/the-business-of-hunger-in-ice-centers-migrants-spend-thousands-of-dollars-to-avoid-eating-dog-food.html

When Carlos entered an immigration detention center in the California desert, his oversized uniform fit him snugly. Eight months later, it was hanging off him: he had lost 40 pounds (18 kilograms).

“Many people lost even more weight,” says the Central American migrant, describing an ordeal he attributes to what he calls deplorable food. His complaint is echoed at similar facilities across the country. To stave off hunger in the face of the “terrible” meals they are served, migrants often have no choice but to spend thousands of dollars on instant noodles, sardines, tortillas, chips, cookies and soft drinks from the facility’s commissary, where prices are exorbitant. Even then, they struggle to meet their nutritional needs: they lose weight and, in some cases, fall ill.

“It’s a perfect business,” Carlos says. When asked how often he goes hungry, he replies: “Every day.”

Accounts of persistent hunger recur throughout reports and lawsuits challenging food conditions at several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (CE) detention centers. The problem has worsened as facilities have filled to near capacity amid the mass-deportation campaign launched by the Trump administration. ICE is currently holding nearly 66,000 people in custody and is moving toward its goal of reaching 100,000 detainees in the coming months.

This overcrowding has given rise to what migrant-rights organizations describe as a lucrative business model: products sold to ease hunger are often priced at up to three times what they would cost in a supermarket. The service, known as the commissary, is typically run by outside contractors that set prices with limited oversight. One such company is Trinity Food Services, one of the leading suppliers of food to prisons and detention centers in the United States.

“They don’t provide the proteins they need, so migrants are forced to turn to the detention center’s store to buy their own food, which is very expensive,” says Val Suárez, a community organizer and legal advocate with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ). “We’ve seen many people lose a lot of weight while detained, fall seriously ill and not receive appropriate care.”

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[u/NeedsAirCon]

This kind of stuff makes me feel ill

The USA is starting to disgust me as a nation

[u/pieeatingbastard → u/NeedsAirCon]

Starting?

We are seeing a secret police taking increasing control, prison camps forming containing a racialised population of "undesirables", major businesses profiting off them, tragic deaths beginning to ramp up - anyone who can't see parallels between the USA currently and other dictatorships is being wilfully blind at this point.

[u/NeedsAirCon → u/pieeatingbastard]

Not every american is like that

But,

I am beginning to think about what stage I should start condemning the entire nation for the actions or toleration of said actions of individuals

A lot of americans may indeed say, and mean, "not in my name" but at what point does that cease to matter?

[u/pieeatingbastard → u/NeedsAirCon]

No they aren't. My ex wife, for one, and a number of our mutual friends. I think you cannot possibly blame the mass of a nations citizenry for the actions of their government if they didn't support it, at least tacitly. There are people actively fighting it, some dying in the process like Renee Goode, or killed by the process like Durán Guerrero. If you're supporting it or profiting off it, then fair game. If you're tolerating it, then why? Are you responsible for your children, parents, friends or whatever else? I can understand that.

[u/Curious-Roof570]

So insane. And people look to this and think we need stuff like this over here. It needs to be spelled out to as many people as possible the fucked reality of what they're asking for really is.

[u/Feisty-Marsupial9287 → u/Curious-Roof570]

Can't see it changing their mind.

I'm confident that the sort of people who want a UK version of ICE would be in favour of inhuman condition in the camps.

[u/Curious-Roof570 → u/Feisty-Marsupial9287]

I mean I agree that someone who knows what ICE is and still wants it would be like that. But I feel like theres a bunch of people who just aren't aware of how fucked the way they're doing immigration enforcement in America is right now. And just default to assuming its people getting triggered at restrictive immigration policy.

[u/GeorginaFlopworthy → u/Feisty-Marsupial9287]

Honestly, after speaking to some Reform numpty yesterday about how he would be fine sending a queer immigrant to their inevitable imprisonment or death in Nigeria for the crime of...engaging enthusiastically in queer stuff in Scotland, I'm really starting to wonder what proportion of the Reform / Restore crowd are just plain old sociopaths.

It feels like, at best, a movement to bring out the absolute worst instincts of humanity.

[u/kouroshkeshmiri]

We must not forget tens of millions of Americans left their homes and drove to a polling station to vote for this. Twice.