Members of Congress sent a scathing letter to federal immigration officials this week demanding answers about conditions inside a Texas immigration jail, as detained immigrants on a prolonged hunger strike claim officials are retaliating against them and threatening them with force feeding.

A group of seven congressional Democrats sent the letter earlier this week to Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary, and David Venturella, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director, protesting about the treatment of hunger strikers.

The El Valle detention facility in Raymondville, Texas, detaining men and women, has fallen under scrutiny in recent weeks for allegations of harsh conditions. Detained immigrants on hunger strike say the facility has substandard medical care, undrinkable water and guards that mistreat them. Some hunger strikers are also protesting their prolonged detention and are asking for their cases to move more quickly or to be transferred closer to loved ones in other parts of the country.

“It is abundantly clear that DHS continues to demonstrate gross disregard for the health, dignity, personhood, and safety of our communities,” the group of lawmakers, led by Illinois representative Delia Ramirez, said in their letter to the DHS and ICE. “However, we remain committed to conducting oversight, advocating for our constituents, and pursuing accountability.”

The representatives “unequivocally condemn” conditions reported at the facility.

“Whether they arose through indifference or inability, such conditions violate the … DHS and ... ICE documented detention standards,” the letter said.

“It’s clear that DHS continues to demonstrate gross disregard for our health, dignity, personhood, and the safety of our communities,” Ramirez posted on X.

The congressional letter comes as the number of people detained by ICE increases amid the Trump administration’s aggressive but quieter anti-immigrant crackdown.

In past weeks, senators from Georgia have similarly expressed concern about an ongoing hunger strike at the Folkston ICE detention center complex in their state. The Guardian reported last week that a man detained there died, even as allegations surfaced of force feeding threats. The DHS denies the hunger strikers in Georgia have been threatened.

The latest letter, signed by representatives Ramirez, Texas’s Greg Casar and Jasmine Crockett and others, also demands details about the detainee population, the quality of medical care and more.

“People should not be detained in these horrific detention centers – the hunger strikers should be released to their families and we demand that they receive protection from further detention and deportation,” the representatives wrote. “We also demand that you refrain from force-feeding any person in your custody.”

In a statement, a DHS spokesperson said that the department responds to official correspondence through official channels and added that the representatives “should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these dangerous criminals from their districts – NOT vilifying law enforcement”.

DHS did not provide proof that the detainees participating in the strike, whose relatives spoke with the Guardian, have any criminal history.

El Valle is owned by the Willacy County Local Government Corporation and operated by the private prison company Management and Training Corporation (MTC). The local government corporation did not respond to a request for comment. MTC referred all questions to ICE.

The Guardian spoke with three relatives of asylum seekers detained in El Valle, who have all been detained for nearly a year and are participating in the strike, which is approaching three weeks.

On 11 October, detained immigrants inside the El Valle facility launched the hunger strike. More than two dozen immigrants, from Russia, Cameroon and other countries, first participated, according to family members and advocates.

There are now four women and 10 to 20 men still participating in the strike, family members said.

One of the hunger strikers is Inna Eremeeva, an asylum seeker from Russia.

While in detention, “she started having serious pain in her legs and her hips”, Eremeeva’s husband, Alexei, said through an interpreter. “She feels a growth in her private areas. She has been declined any medical care to figure out what is going on.”

Alexei also said that officials earlier told hunger-striking women they would be transferred to another ICE facility to be force-fed. Other ICE detention centers in Texas have been used to force-feed detainees.

In a statement, an ICE spokesperson said that “allegations that detainees are being threatened are FALSE. No detainees are being force fed or threatened with force feeding.”

“During hunger strikes, ICE continues to provide three meals a day, delivered to the detained alien’s room, and an adequate supply of drinking water or other beverages,” ICE added. “ICE is committed to ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of all individuals in its custody.”

Eremeeva arrived in the US in 2024 and requested asylum. In November 2025, during one of Eremeeva’s work trips as a truck driver, she was stopped at a border patrol checkpoint in Texas and arrested by officials. She has been in detention since.

DHS said in a statement that Eremeeva entered the US “using the disastrous Biden administration CBP One app”, which was used to process asylum seekers and “released in the country completely unvetted”. Eremeeva remains in detention as she challenges ICE’s attempts to deport her.

“People are feeling hopeless and desperate in the black hole of ICE detention,” said Savannah Kumar, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas. “People in immigration detention centers across the country have had to resort to hunger strikes because they are caged in conditions that feel unsurvivable.”

Amaliia Gilmutdinova’s husband Shokhrukh Abdullaev is also detained and participating in the strike. Abdullaev also worked as a truck driver and was arrested in November 2025 at a checkpoint in Texas. He entered the country in September 2021 using the CBP One app, DHS said.

“He is very afraid to say anything,” Gilmutdinova said about her husband through an interpreter. “He is very much afraid of being put back in isolation.”

Another man, whose daughter requested their names not be shared for fear of retaliation, is 63 years old and struggles with various health problems. He is participating in the hunger strike. The man calls his daughter frequently with panic attacks and she guides him through breathing exercises to calm him down, she said.

Kumar from the ACLU of Texas added that ICE “essentially locks people up away from their families indefinitely”, pointing to a recent fifth circuit court decision that ICE detainees in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi do not have the right to seek release on bond.

According to the 63-year-old man’s daughter, “the only thing he wants is to be able to see his family. He wants to be transferred.”

“He is like a child, asking: ‘Why am I here? I didn’t do anything’,” she added.