In November, a Jackson electrician was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for false paperwork. According to his daughter, the man, a native of Mexico, had lived and worked in the United States for 13 years.

Over the last seven months, he's been transported to multiple ICE facilities, both in Mississippi and Louisiana, awaiting his fate. Tuesday, he and several other ICE detainees decided to go on a hunger strike at Mississippi's newest ICE facility near Natchez, she said, in protest of conditions.

The strike would be the second at an ICE facility in the Southeast; currently seven people are on a hunger strike at a Louisiana facility, said ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox.

Under ICE policy, going without food is only deemed a hunger strike after detainees have missed nine consecutive meals, Cox said. Since the strike at the Adams County Correctional Center near Natchez reportedly began Tuesday, it had yet to meet ICE's hunger strike qualifications on Wednesday.

Joshua Tom, ACLU of Mississippi's legal director and interim executive director, confirmed the organization heard reports of a hunger strike Tuesday.

The daughter, who asked to be identified only as Maria, said she has spoken twice with her father. After one minute, the line disconnects. He told her "things are really bad in here," she said.

He told her others need medical attention and they need soap, toothpaste and shampoo. His commissary money from the previous facilities hasn't yet been transferred and he has no money to buy essentials. He told her he and the other detainees decided to "unite" and go on a hunger strike.

"They're not going to eat so hopefully they can be heard," she said.

Fear of retaliation

The family came to the United States from Central Mexico when Maria was 9 years old. She has deferred action for childhood arrivals status, otherwise known as DACA, and asked that her name and her father's name not be used for fear of retaliation; her mother and younger sibling are in the process of trying to gain legal status and her father is appealing a deportation order.

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According to Maria, her father arrived at Adams County facility on Sunday. CoreCivic, the company whose 10-year contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons ends July 31, recently started housing ICE detainees in June. A spokesperson for CoreCivic could not be reached for comment.

In the last seven months, Maria's father has been in facilities both in Mississippi and Louisiana. While at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana, he was ordered to be deported, Maria said. The family is appealing.

Maria said she "understands everything has to be rightly done and there must be a law," but she said her father, and her family, has tried to give back the best way they can. They're heavily involved in their church and try to help other Hispanic families. After Hurricane Katrina, her father volunteered and helped people who needed electrical work.

"It seems like we're contributing to the community and now we're not even taken into consideration," she said.

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"My hope is that, I understand there has to be a system, but I would hope for people to have the compassion to at least have people in good conditions. Give them food, medical treatment they need. I really hope my father gets out and reunites with our family."

Without their father, Maria has largely taken on his role providing for the family. But money is tight. Her younger sibling had hoped to go to college but, in their current financial state, that's not possible, she said.

"The whole point was for us as kids is to have a better situation here in the U.S., a better life, a better future," Maria said. "By my father being detained, it's cutting everybody's dreams short."

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Contact Sarah Fowler at 601-961-7303 or sfowler@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.