Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are force-feeding undocumented immigrants at a Texas detention facility through plastic nasal tubes after the detainees went on hunger strike. The Associated Press reports that 11 detainees at the El Paso Processing Center have been refusing food, some for more than 30 days, and six are being force-fed. The men say they stopped eating after they were verbally abused by guards and threatened with deportation. The men being fed by nasal tubes are reportedly having nose bleeds and vomiting several times a day. “They are not well. Their bodies are really weak, they can’t talk and they have been hospitalized, back and forth,” said Amrit Singh, whose two nephews from India have been on hunger strike. “They want to know why they are still in the jail and want to get their rights and wake up the government immigration system.” Force-feeding can be very painful and has been condemned by both the American Medical Association and the World Medical Association.
