ICE halts force-feeding of immigrant detainees
Posted February 14, 2019 8:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The U.S. government has suddenly stopped force-feeding all nine Indian immigrants on a hunger strike inside an El Paso immigration detention centre, according to local reports Thursday.
The dramatic reversal comes as public pressure was mounting on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to halt the controversial practice, which involves feeding detainees through nasal tubes against their will. Last week, the United Nations human rights office said the force-feeding of immigrant 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 Thursday. The next day, all force-feeding at the detention centre near the El Paso airport stopped, according to reports in the El Paso Times and Texas Monthly .
Martha Mendoza And Garance Burke, The Associated Press
