ICE force feeds Indian refugees on hunger strike

A MAN FROM INDIA is being force fed by ICE staff in a detention center in El Paso, Texas, according to reports by the Associated Press.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed there nine detained men who are on hunger strike and are being force-fed under court order.

One of the hunger strikers, a 22-year-old man from India who called The Associated Press Feb. 1, described being dragged from his cell three times a day and strapped down on a bed. He said a team of people force-feed him by pouring liquid into tubes pushed through his nose.

The man, whom AP is identifying only by his last name Singh out of family concerns for his safety, stopped eating more than a month ago. He reportedly is one of several Indians on hunger strike.

Singh's uncle, a California resident, said his nephew along with a cousin fled their native state of Punjab seek asylum in the U.S. to escape the violence in that Indian state.

In mid-January, ICE obtained court orders to begin non-consensual hydration and feeding, and so for weeks they’ve had nasal tubes inserted in their noses and IVs in their arms.

Ruby Kaur, a Michigan-based attorney representing one of the hunger strikers, said her client had been force-fed and put on an IV after more than three weeks without eating or drinking water.

“They go on hunger strike, and they are put into solitary confinement and then the ICE officers kind of psychologically torture them, telling the asylum seekers they will send them back to Punjab,” Kaur told IndiaWest.

"They tie us on the force-feeding bed, and then they put a lot of liquid into the tubes, and the pressure is immense so we end up vomiting it out," Singh said to AP. "We can't talk properly, and we can't breathe properly. The pipe is not an easy process, but they try to push it down our noses and throats."

Speaking through an interpreter, Singh said he has lost 50 pounds since he began his hunger strike. He said he is refusing food to protest guards' unfair treatment of him and other detainees from Punjab, reports AP. The news agency said the hunger strikers are being denied bond while detainees from other countries were allowed out.

Most of the 30 hunger strikers are from India or Cuba, according to U.S-based IndiaWest.
Detainees, a relative and an attorney told the AP that nearly 30 detainees, mostly from India and Cuba, have been refusing food and drink there to protest what they say is rampant verbal abuse and threats of deportation from guards. They are also upset about lengthy lock ups while awaiting legal proceedings.

ICE issued a statement saying the agency 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," the agency said.

“They tie us on the force-feeding bed, and then they put a lot of liquid into the tubes, and the pressure is immense so we end up vomiting it out,”  Singh told AP. “We can’t talk properly, and we can’t breathe properly. The pipe is not an easy process, but they try to push it down our noses and throats.”

When the U.S. used forced feeding of hunger strikers at Guantanomo the practice received international condemnation. The International Red Cross, American Medical Association and World Medical Association condemn force-feeding hunger strikers as unethical.

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