Read our feature article “Only Those With the Courage To Fight Have the Courage To Win: Combat and Resist ICE Terror!” here.
Martin Soto, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee and leader in the victorious hunger strike at Delaney Hall, was released from Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey on October 6 after a judge ruled that his four-month solitary confinement in retaliation for organizing was illegal.
Martin Soto was met by his wife, Gabriela Soto, their two children, and dozens of supporters upon his release after eight months in detention.
Gabriela Soto was pregnant and had a miscarriage due to the stress of her husband’s detainment and torture. She expressed gratitude to their supporters, telling them, “these months have been very, very difficult. Not only did I lose our home, not only did I lose our child, but this experience made me stronger to keep fighting to reunite our family.”
ICE abducted Martin Soto while he was buying diapers for his children in February, and originally placed him in Delaney Hall in Newark, NJ. He wrote to his wife that the guards had given the inmates food infested with worms and threatened them that they would starve if they didn’t eat it. Other detainees at Delaney Hall were denied medical care, and guards were physically violent.
This led Martin Soto to organize a labor and hunger strike of 300 detainees, which took place from late May to early June, while Gabriela Soto, family members of other detainees, and hundreds of activists held daily combative protests outside the facility.
The strike and protests secured better conditions and facilitated the release of some detainees while contributing to a national wave of hunger strikes across ICE detention centers.
During the strike in May, Martin Soto was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center and placed in solitary confinement for four months. Gabriela Soto said in a statement, “they don’t want him associating with more people because they’re afraid that he might start another hunger and labor strike inside a facility, so they keep him away from life in general.”
Martin Soto’s lawyers filed an emergency motion for his release, claiming he was being punished for his role in the strike and that solitary confinement was causing his mental health to decline. US District Court Judge Jamel Semper ordered his release in September.
Image: Martin Soto, his two children, and his wife, Gabriela Soto after his release. Credit: @gabrielasoto_ve on Instagram.
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