NJ Hunger Striker Is Risking His Life Protesting ICE, Family Says

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — It’s been more than 20 years since Marvin Reyes Ventura saw his father and brother gunned down in front of him in El Salvador. But the pain of that life-changing moment – and the prospect of being deported back to the scene of the tragedy – still haunts the 45-year-old to this day.

In fact, it’s literally enough to make him stop eating, his family members say.

Reyes Ventura, a longtime New Jersey resident, is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Miami, Florida. According to advocates speaking on his behalf, his transfer out of the Garden State was allegedly “retaliation” because he took part in a coronavirus-inspired hunger strike last year, although ICE spokespeople say the agency doesn't retaliate against such behavior (read the agency's full statement below).

Now, Reyes Ventura has stopped eating yet again in a bid to bring awareness to his situation – and it may be putting his life at risk, his family worries.

According to the Abolish ICE NY-NJ Coalition, Reyes Ventura’s father and brother were shot in 1998 while he was living in his home country of El Salvador. Soon afterward, his family began facing threats, and decided to make a new future for themselves in the United States (listen to him speak about the experience below).

The violent killings deeply affected the entire family, but according to Reyes Ventura’s sister, who is also an asylum seeker in New Jersey, it was especially hard on her brother.

“Because he saw all that, he lived through all that happened there, and since then his life has changed,” she said. “Because he never got any help from a professional, he never had any therapy. He needed my dad obviously, and my brother.”

“If my brother gets deported, he will be in danger because that man is still there,” she added. “I am sure that if my brother goes to El Salvador, they will kill him.”

After Reyes Ventura relocated to the U.S., he continued to struggle with post-traumatic stress, developing a substance abuse problem in an attempt to forget his pain – even if just for a moment.

“I thought I would be able to move on and forget everything by taking refuge in vices,” he said.

Eventually, Reyes Ventura found himself in trouble with the law in 2014. According to an advocate with the Abolish ICE coalition:

“Marvin, unable to stay in El Salvador, returned and he was re-arrested in 2016 (convicted in 2017). At this time, the DA's office at Somerset County, retroactively convicted him in 2017 for the 2014 arrest. Although he was arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence, he was prosecuted for his immigration status and prior substance use related to his PTSD.”

“Marvin is a clear example of someone who needed mental health services to overcome tragic life circumstances and knowledge on his immigration rights, but was met with harsh law enforcement and deportation,” the spokesperson added.

According to advocates, Reyes Ventura entered the custody of ICE in November 2019. He was initially detained at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, and was transferred to Bergen County Jail in Hackensack last year.

While at the jail, he became active with other detainees, who launched a 26-day hunger strike in an attempt to raise awareness about alleged health and safety risks for prisoners, including from the coronavirus.

It wasn’t just an academic exercise in civil rights for Reyes Ventura, who became infected with COVID-19 himself, advocates said.

• See related article: Prison Hunger Strikes Continue In NJ As ICE Detainees Fear COVID

Shortly after the hunger strike at Bergen County Jail, authorities transferred Reyes Ventura to the Krome Service Processing Center in Miami. And there’s only one possible reason, advocates claim: “political retaliation.”

When he got to Florida, Reyes Ventura continued to use hunger striking as a way to give himself a voice. In March, he launched another strike, demanding that ICE release him so he can seek asylum while living with his family.

Since then, Reyes Ventura has lost more than 30 pounds and faces increasing health risks, advocates said. In mid-March, a doctor told him his glucose levels were “dangerously close to 60,” which would put him at risk of going into a coma.

“I am at risk of dying,” he said on March 16. “I am very weak at the moment. My stomach really hurts, it burns. My back hurts, as well as my head.”

On March 30, Reyes Ventura called family members to tell them he was being taken to the hospital. His family has not heard from him since then, and they say ICE has refused to provide them with any information on his condition or location.

It is believed Reyes Ventura was taken to the Larkin Community Hospital, where ICE typically sends sick detainees from the area, advocates said.

ICE officials have since submitted a request to force-feed him, advocates claim.

Advocates added that they’re especially concerned, considering the history of the Krome Detention Center. According to Abolish ICE:

“Krome is presented by ICE as a mental health facility, but has a long history of abuses and neglect, and has force-fed hunger strikers in the past. A report by the Project on Government Oversight found 153 reports of people held in solitary confinement at Krome between January 2016 and May 2018, including 121 reports of solitary used for discipline.”

ICE: 'WE DON'T RETALIATE AGAINST HUNGER STRIKERS'

When contacted about the concerns of Reyes Ventura and his supporters, an ICE spokesperson provided Patch with the following statement:

"Marvin Reyes Ventura is citizen of El Salvador who has previously been removed from the United States on Oct. 29, 2010, Jan. 8, 2013 and May 7, 2013. Ventura was convicted of illegal reentry after deportation Aug. 30, 2012, for which the court sentenced him to eight months of confinement. Additionally, Ventura has been arrested multiple times by local law enforcement and convicted of crimes such as aggravated assault and resisting arrest-eluding, resisting arrest-use or threat of physical force or violence against law enforcement, felony shoplifting and operating under influence of liquor or drugs."

The agency continued:

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fully respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion without interference. ICE does not retaliate in any way against hunger strikers. ICE explains the negative health effects of not eating to our detainees. For their health and safety, ICE closely monitors the food and water intake of those detainees identified as being on a hunger strike. ICE is committed to ensuring the welfare of all those in the agency’s custody, including providing access to necessary and appropriate medical care. Comprehensive medical care is provided to all individuals in ICE custody. Staffing includes registered nurses and licensed practical nurses, licensed mental health providers, mid-level providers that include a physician’s assistant and nurse practitioner, a physician, dental care, and access to 24-hour emergency care. Pursuant to our commitment to the welfare of those in the agency’s custody, ICE spends more than $269 million annually on the spectrum of healthcare services provided to those in our care."

According to ICE’s performance-based national detention standards regarding hunger strikes, which can be seen here, a person is considered to be on hunger strike if they have missed nine consecutive meals, even if they're still consuming snacks, meal replacement shakes or food from the commissary.

Spokespeople added that Reyes Ventura remains in ICE custody "at a local area hospital."

According to ICE, the countdown has begun to a potential deportation. The agency told Patch:

"Mr. Ventura has a final order of removal which was issued by an immigration judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review and he has been granted full due process through the immigration courts."

But although the clock is ticking, there is still hope that their efforts will make a difference, advocates say.

“Marvin is putting his life at great risk by going on hunger strike in hopes of being released to his family,” said Marlene Ramos, an organizer with Abolish ICE NY-NJ.

“He has a strong and loving family, and his sisters are his biggest advocates who can help him adjudicate his asylum case from home,” Ramos continued. “Despite facing the psychological and physical torture of incarceration during the pandemic months, he reached out to a community of advocates and providers who are committed to seeing him thrive and finally be connected to the mental health resources and services he never had.”

The Abolish ICE NY-NJ Coalition includes the following groups: Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, Borderless Existence Initiative, Critical Resistance NYC Chapter, Central Jersey DSA, Center for Constitutional Rights, Doctors for Camp Closure, Freedom For Immigrants, Freedom To Thrive, New York State Youth Leadership Council, NYU Law Immigrant Rights Clinic, NYC Democratic Socialists of America, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, North Jersey Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, Drew Roosevelt Institute, Solidarity & Mutual Aid Jersey City, Unitarian Universalist Faith Action New Jersey.

• See related article: 'Ban ICE Contracts:' New Push For Immigrant Rights Launches In NJ

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