AP: ICE force-feeding detainees on hunger strike

Associated Press

Immigrants around the country have staged hunger strikes over the past month to protest conditions inside detention facilities, prompting officials to force-feed six of them through plastic nasal tubes at a Texas location, The Associated Press has learned.

The El Paso Processing Center has become the location with the most protests, with some detainees refusing food for more than 30 days. 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, which has a more narrow definition of hunger strike, confirmed today there are 11 detainees refusing food in El Paso, and an additional four in the agency's Miami, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco areas of responsibility, according to agency spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa.

The reason for the discrepancy between the numbers given by lawyers and advocates and those by ICE could be because of varying definitions of what a hunger strike entails, which the government says is refusing nine consecutive meals.

In mid-January, two weeks after they stopped eating, a federal judge authorized force-feeding of some El Paso detainees, Zamarripa said. She did not immediately address the detainees' allegations of abuse but did say the El Paso Processing Center would follow the federal standards for care.

ICE officials say they closely monitor the food and water intake of detainees identified as being on a hunger strike to protect their health and safety.