Employees of the US Immigration service (U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — ICE) force-feeding 6 immigrants who are already starving a month in jail Texas, through a plastic nasal tube.
According to the Associated Press, ICE said that 11 people El Paso Processing Center refuse to eat, some of them have not eaten for more than 30 days. The news Agency contacted the relative of one of the protesters and a lawyer representing the protesters, and found different figures: now fast, about 30 prisoners from India and Cuba, some of them are so weak that they can’t stand to even talk.
The prisoners claim that they have stopped eating in protest against abuse and threats of deportation, which they constantly hear from the prison guards. They also resent their prolonged retention in custody awaiting a judicial decision.
Press Secretary ICE Leticia Zamarripa said that in mid-January (2 weeks after it was declared the hunger strike), a Federal judge sanctioned the force-feeding of prisoners at the El Paso, explaining this measure by taking care of their health.
According to the Californian Amrita Singh, 2 of his nephews arrived in the United States from India to seek asylum. After force-feeding through nasal tube men started bleeding.
«Their body is really weak, they can not speak — said Amrit Singh AP reporters. — They want to know why are still in prison. [They] want to protect their rights and to awaken the state of the immigration system.»
According to court records, in September, nephews Singh, illegally crossed the border near El Paso, pleaded guilty in administrative offense.
ICE officials are force-feeding six #immigrants through plastic nasal tubes during a #hungerstrike that’s gone on for a month inside a Texas detention facility #AbolishICE https://t.co/unnfcumaKK pic.twitter.com/hrIgi7xOp3
— Mark (@_therealmark_) January 31, 2019
Mass hunger strike and had previously been in the centers of retention of immigrants in detention across the country. Then the judge also sanctioned force-feeding protesters.
The US immigration service qualifies as a starving prisoner, after he has refused 9 meals in a row. Federal courts have finally decided whether to issue an order for forced feeding of hunger strikers, so the rules vary according to area and type of court, sometimes accepted secret decrees.
