In related news, children held at Berks say they will begin a strike against their studies on September 15 if authorities do not respond by then to an ongoing hunger strike by their mothers to push for their release. The date is celebrated as Independence Day in Central America, where many of them are from. In a letter signed by students from 7th to 11th grade who have been detained almost 400 days, they say, “It hurts to know that as the school year starts, we are here imprisoned … when one of the reasons why we left our countries is that we could not attend classes because of the threats that schools receive. … We have a hard time concentrating because of the frustration we feel to be here in jail as criminals when in reality we are not.”