A day of injury, delayed care, new promises, and no written decision.
Kristina’s account of September 2 describes a treadmill fall with a head impact, arm abrasion, and ankle injury; a delayed clinical response; and renewed discussions with facility medical staff and ICE. A physician later reviewed several of her longstanding complaints and discussed laboratory testing and outside specialist care. An ICE officer reported receiving an email and said a possible placement outside the facility was being explored, but could not identify the destination or provide a written decision. Kristina ate a small amount during the day as a limited good-faith gesture. She states that this did not end the hunger strike or withdraw any of the written medical, transfer, custody, language-access, and safety demands.
Notice and response
Notified: facility administration and medical leadership, the responsible local ICE field-office chain, federal detention oversight offices, and MTC leadership. An emergency bilingual injury complaint and preservation notice, with authorizations, was distributed. Response as of publication: verbal follow-up and medical promises, but no written transfer decision, completed specialist plan, incident findings, or confirmation that the unsafe equipment and video were preserved.
A small amount of food was accepted as a good-faith step, not as surrender of the demands.
During discussions on the second day, Kristina accepted a small amount of food. She described this as a limited good-faith step intended to permit meaningful engagement, not as a declaration that the protest had ended. She did not withdraw the demands delivered at the start of the hunger strike: immediate coordinated medical care; appropriate gynecological, endocrine, gastrointestinal, vision, and primary-care evaluation; medication continuity; food compatible with documented restrictions; qualified Russian interpretation; a safe and humane observation setting; and written ICE decisions addressing custody, transfer, medical transfer, or release under supervision. The continuing status was communicated in writing so that one limited intake would not be used to erase the underlying dispute.
Notice and response
Notified: facility and medical leadership, the local ICE field-office chain, federal detention oversight, and MTC leadership. Response as of publication: no written resolution of the demands and no completed care or custody plan.
The treadmill kept moving after Kristina went down.
Kristina says she began by walking, briefly ran, slowed after feeling short of breath, and then tried running again. Her leg gave way and she fell. She believes she first landed on an arm and then struck her head; she also felt bruising or strain around the ankle. The belt continued moving instead of stopping and pushed or dragged her toward the rear of the machine. She reports that the treadmill had no usable safety-stop cord or clip. Its display area appeared torn out, with pieces of plastic exposed. The side rails moved rather than providing a stable handhold, and the machine was positioned close to a wall with little recovery space behind it. Facility-issued shoes were the only shoes she was permitted to wear in the exercise room.
Notice and response
Notified: facility safety and medical leadership, ICE, federal detention oversight, and MTC leadership. Requested: take the machine out of service without alteration, photograph and identify it, preserve its inspection and maintenance history, retain the issued shoes, and secure the available video.
She remained on the floor, then had to approach the supervising officer herself.
After the fall, Kristina says she sat on the floor beside the treadmill while recovering. The officer assigned to the room did not approach her for approximately two minutes. Kristina then stood up on her own and walked to the officer. No qualified interpreter was provided during this immediate exchange. She was escorted through the medical area to a room, where staff were told that she had fallen and that someone would come. Kristina reports that she then waited until roughly 3:00 p.m. for a physician. During that period, the abrasion on her arm had bled; she cleaned it herself with a wet wipe. She reported headache after striking her head and pain or strain around the ankle.
Notice and response
Notified: facility administration, medical leadership, ICE, federal detention oversight, and MTC leadership. Requested: preserve the officer assignment, post orders, incident notification times, radio traffic, medical-unit arrival and triage times, interpreter records, and CCTV showing both the fall and the response.
A fall with a head impact was followed by hours without a clinical examination.
Kristina says she entered the exercise room without acute complaints other than mild diarrhea and used a facility treadmill while an officer was present. When she tried to run, her leg gave way and she fell. She reports striking her head, scraping and bruising her arm, and injuring her ankle. The moving belt did not stop and carried her farther toward a nearby wall. She describes the machine as lacking a safety-stop tether, having a damaged or missing display with exposed plastic, loose side rails, and very little clearance behind it. She remained on the floor for roughly two minutes before getting up and approaching the officer herself. She was taken through the medical unit to a room, but says no clinician examined her until roughly three hours after the fall. She cleaned the bleeding abrasion herself; staff did not clean or dress it.
Notice and response
Notified: facility safety and medical leadership, ICE, federal detention oversight, and MTC leadership. Requested: immediate head-injury reassessment, emergency transfer if clinically indicated, removal and preservation of the treadmill, preservation of CCTV from 11:30 a.m. through 4:00 p.m., and preservation of incident, medical, radio, staffing, interpreter, inspection, maintenance, and equipment records. Response as of publication: no written incident number, preservation confirmation, or investigation result.
Head impactUnsafe equipmentDelayed examinationPreservation demanded
A physician documented the complaints and discussed new tests and referrals.
Later in the afternoon, a physician met Kristina with a nurse and a telephone interpreter. According to Kristina, the physician had reviewed parts of her medical history, examined her head, arm, ankle, and wound, and discussed the unresolved gynecological, endocrine, gastrointestinal, vision, medication, and pain-management issues. The physician said hormonal laboratory work would be ordered in connection with another gynecology referral and discussed an eye appointment for contact lenses. Kristina reiterated that she would not return to the same outside gynecologist and wanted another provider. She also said that she wanted to continue taking her prescribed medications. The encounter produced verbal commitments, but no written schedule, referral confirmation, comprehensive treatment plan, or disclosed vital-sign results.
Notice and response
Notified: facility administration and medical leadership, ICE field-office personnel, federal detention oversight, and MTC leadership. Response as of publication: a physician assessment occurred and further testing and referrals were discussed; completion, dates, and written orders remain unconfirmed.
A possible move outside the facility was mentioned, but not explained.
Kristina reports that an ICE officer returned after speaking with a supervisor and said an email had been received concerning a possible transfer or placement outside the current facility. Even with an interpreter, the destination and type of placement were not made clear. The officer reportedly said the process could take about ten days or longer and that the email still needed to be reviewed. No legal basis, responsible decision-maker, criteria, destination, timeline, interim safeguards, or written answer to Kristina’s pending custody and transfer questions was provided. The officer said further follow-up was expected by the next day.
Notice and response
Notified: the local ICE field-office chain, facility administration, federal detention oversight offices, and MTC leadership. Response as of publication: an oral statement that the matter is being worked on; no dated or reviewable written decision.
ICE follow-upPossible transferDestination unclearNo written decision
The measurements were completed. The nurse still would not provide verifiable identification.
According to Kristina, the same nurse returned with a Russian telephone interpreter but without a visible badge. Kristina expressly consented to vital-sign monitoring and asked for the nurse's complete professional name. She heard a surname sounding like “Ranosa,” but the spelling and identity remain unconfirmed; the nurse directed her to ask a supervisor in the morning. Kristina reports that the nurse raised her voice, approached very close to her face, repeatedly said she did not want problems, and asserted that Kristina spoke English. Kristina nevertheless cooperated. Blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen saturation were apparently measured, but neither the individual measurements nor their numerical results or clinical meaning were communicated.
Notice and response
Notified: facility administration, medical leadership, the on-duty security supervisor, ICE/ERO field-office contacts, and the assigned ICE chain of command. A consolidated bilingual complaint and preservation demand were sent by email with the representative’s authorizations. Response as of publication: no substantive written response and no disclosed corrective action.
No refusalVitals completedIdentity unresolvedNo response
A request for an interpreter was followed by the nurse walking away.
A nurse entered room 186B with an officer and blood-pressure equipment. Her badge was present but unreadable. Kristina requested a Russian interpreter and said “one moment”; she reports that she was ready to provide her arm and did not refuse care. No interpreter was provided. The nurse removed the equipment and left without explanation before taking the measurement. The event was documented immediately to prevent an abandoned staff encounter from later being characterized as a patient refusal.
Notice and response
Notified: facility administration, medical leadership, the on-duty security supervisor, ICE/ERO field-office contacts, and the assigned ICE chain of command. The later consolidated notice expressly demanded correction of any refusal or noncompliance entry. Response as of publication: no substantive written response.
Headache reported. No clinician arrived, and the offered meal did not match her documented restrictions.
Kristina began knocking because the call button did not work and her headache persisted. A newly arrived corridor officer used a telephone interpreter and said medical staff had been notified and would come soon. By approximately 6:40 p.m., no clinician had arrived. At about 6:30 p.m., staff brought the regular meal rather than food consistent with Kristina’s documented exclusions; the tray contained beans, which she reports were specifically excluded. She declined that tray and was not offered a suitable replacement. Male detainees continued passing through the corridor with a line of sight toward the toilet, causing her to avoid using it.
Notice and response
Notified: facility leadership, medical leadership, ICE/ERO field-office contacts, federal oversight contacts, and congressional casework offices through the day’s urgent written escalation. Response as of publication: no substantive written response, no disclosed treatment plan, and no disclosed correction of the room, call system, diet, or toilet privacy.
HeadacheNo working call buttonDiet restrictionsPrivacyNo response
Locked medical observation replaced a substantive response.
According to Kristina's contemporaneous account, staff knew by approximately 10:00 a.m. that she was refusing food. Before lunch she was taken to the medical unit, where blood pressure, temperature, and weight were measured without the results being disclosed. She reports that no physician examined her and that a nurse, speaking through a telephone interpreter, warned that continued refusal could lead to involuntary feeding without explaining the method, medical criteria, procedure, or legal basis. Kristina was then placed behind locked doors. At approximately 3:50 p.m., after staff inventoried property collected from her housing area and removed all food and a zero-calorie commissary drink, she was moved to single-occupancy room 186B. She describes the room as dirty and stuffy, with no bedding, towel, toilet tissue, shower, or functioning call button; the toilet was visible from the corridor. At 4:13 p.m., a medical employee without visible identification arrived with equipment for blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen saturation. Kristina consented to the measurements but asked the employee to identify himself first. She reports that he refused twice and left without taking any vital signs. By 5:15 p.m., no one had returned to check her condition. She reported mild abdominal pain, headache, and hunger but had no working call system or explained alternative for summoning assistance. An urgent bilingual supplement was sent to facility leadership and ICE requesting immediate medical safeguards, correction of the conditions, preservation of records and video, and a written response.
CurrentMedical observationNo working call buttonPreservation notice
After months of unanswered demands for treatment, transfer, and a written explanation of her detention, Kristina begins refusing food. Her demands are immediate coordinated medical care, a medically appropriate diet, and a lawful written custody decision.
Seven months of waiting ended in a five-minute meeting.
Kristina finally met her assigned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement case officer in person. She reports that transfer materials would not be forwarded and could only be placed in her A-file. No reasoned written decision was provided.
The government issued two years of work authorization while keeping her detained.
A work-authorization card was issued for a two-year period while Kristina remained confined in El Valle Detention Facility. The document does not itself order release, but it starkly exposes the contradiction between authorization to work and the continuing inability to live outside detention.
Visiting Management & Training Corporation personnel questioned Kristina in detail about the untreated bleeding incident, the officer’s “deportation” statement, medical failures, language access, and transfer. They took notes and showed officer photographs. No findings, protection plan, discipline, or transfer decision has been disclosed.
The first substantive review located came 27 days after the abnormal results.
Records later described a July 15 review of the June 18 laboratory results, including thyroid-stimulating hormone of 0.012 and A1C of 5.7. Kristina had already been forced to pursue the results through records requests and grievances.
The long-awaited appointment arrived after 126 days.
The referral entered February 26 produced an outside visit only on July 2. Kristina reports no qualified Russian interpreter and no examination by a physician. The note described thyroid-stimulating hormone as “mildly elevated,” which does not match the available June result of 0.012.