ICE confirms it is force-feeding detainees on hunger strike

By Amy B Wang February 2 at 4:50 PM

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have confirmed they are force-feeding nine detainees who initiated a hunger strike at an El Paso detention center.

Ten detainees at the facility are under a self-imposed hunger strike, ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said in an email Saturday.

Of the 10, nine are from India, and one is from Nicaragua, Bennett said. Nine of them missed nine consecutive meals, triggering ICE’s hunger strike protocols — medical evaluations and health monitoring.

At various points in mid-January, a federal judge ordered the nine to be fed and hydrated without consent, according to ICE.

ICE’s update comes on the heels of a report by the Associated Press, which revealed on Wednesday that six detainees were being force-fed at the El Paso facility. They are on a hunger strike to protest “rampant verbal abuse and threats of deportation from guards.” The AP report triggered outrage from lawmakers and human rights groups who decried the practice as “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”

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