THREE asylum-seeking mothers held at a Texas detention facility filed a lawsuit on Thursday alleging that they had been held illegally in isolation in retaliation for going on hunger strike.

The three Latin American women are part of a class-action complaint filed against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials and the facility’s private operator.

The women claim they were kept in isolation in the centre’s medical area.

According to the lawsuit, about 80 mothers decided to protest against their detention with a hunger strike and circulated a petition in March.

But Ice officials threatened to separate the women from their children. Two of the women say they were placed in rooms that could be unlocked only from outside and interrogated by officials.

The lawsuit seeks to direct Ice and prison operator GEO Group to cease retaliation and allow them to protest peacefully.