ICE halts force-feeding of immigrant detainees in Texas

The U.S. government has suddenly stopped force-feeding a group of men on a hunger strike inside an El Paso immigration detention center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

The dramatic reversal came Thursday as public pressure was mounting on ICE to halt the practice, which involves feeding detainees through nasal tubes against their will. Last week, the United Nations human rights office said the force-feeding of Indian hunger strikers at the facility could violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

On Wednesday, a U.S. district judge said the government had to stop force-feeding two of the detained Indian immigrants, but warned that if their health started to decline he would consider ordering force-feeding again, their attorney said. On Thursday, all force-feeding at the detention center near the El Paso airport had stopped, ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said.

“This is a win for us,” said Louis Lopez, who is representing Malkeet Singh and Jasvir Singh in the case heard Wednesday in El Paso. Both men are Punjabi Sikhs in their early 20s.

Detained immigrants have sporadically staged hunger strikes around the country for years, protesting conditions they face while seeking asylum. ICE said there are currently 12 detainees refusing food, nine from India, three from Cuba.

In a federal courtroom Wednesday in El Paso, U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama heard from Dr. Michelle Iglesias about how men detained in the El Paso facility are restrained and have feeding tubes pushed through their noses. The judge asked specifically whether they had some other way they could protest, and sought details about the Singhs’ physical condition.

“What are the physiological and psychological effects of allowing a hunger strike to continue unabated by force-feeding?” he asked.

In addition to Guaderrama, U.S. District Judges David Briones, Philip R. Martinez and Frank Montalvo in El Paso have issued orders for force-feeding in recent weeks.

Supporters of the hunger strikers from the Strengthening South Asian Communities in America planned a protest Friday in El Paso.

Those orders are secret, under seal, because they contain “highly sensitive and personal medical information,” Montalvo told The Associated Press declining a request to unseal the orders.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani has said they view force-feeding as potential “ill treatment” going against the convention, ratified by the United States in 1994.

The statement by the Geneva-based office echoed concerns raised by 14 Democrats who have asked ICE for more information.