Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 4 February 2019

APNewsBreak: Detainee on hunger strike details force-feeding

By GARANCE BURKE and official had not been au-
MARTHA MENDOZA thorized to speak publicly
Associated Press about the matter.
U.S. Immigration and Cus- Although the agency
toms Enforcement has con- doesn’t keep statistics on
firmed there are now nine this, attorneys, advocates
men — up from six earlier and ICE staffers who AP
this week — being force- spoke with did not recall a
fed under court order in a situation at an immigration
detention center in El Paso. detention site where it has
One of the hunger strikers, come to this.
a 22-year-old man from Detainees, their attorneys
India who called The As- and advocates have said
sociated Press on Friday, that up to 30 men have
described being dragged been on hunger strikes over
from his cell three times a the last month. According
day and strapped down to ICE, 10 detainees from
on a bed. He said a group India and Nicaragua who
of people force-feed him are being held at the El
by pouring liquid into tubes Paso detention site have
pushed through his nose. refused nine consecutive
The man, who AP is identi- meals — the immigration
fying only by his last name agency’s benchmark for
Singh out of family con- when to start calling refusal
cerns for his safety, stopped to eat a hunger strike.
eating more than a month Last week AP heard from
ago. In mid-January, ICE This June 2018 file photo shows protesters walking along Montana Avenue outside the El Paso Cubans in the facility who
obtained court orders to Processing Center, in El Paso, Texas. also said they were refusing
begin non-consensual hy- Associated Press food.
dration and feeding, and feeding bed, and then properly. The pipe is not an The AP’s reports on the Another four detainees
so for weeks they’ve had they put a lot of liquid into easy process, but they try force-feeding have gar- are on hunger strikes in the
nasal tubes inserted in their the tubes, and the pres- to push it down our noses nered international head- agency’s Miami, Phoenix,
noses and IVs in their arms. sure is immense so we end and throats.” lines and angry responses San Diego and San Fran-
The AP first reported on the up vomiting it out,” said Speaking through an inter- from policymakers and hu- cisco areas of responsibil-
force-feeding Wednesday. Singh. “We can’t talk prop- preter, Singh said he has lost man rights advocates. ity, agency spokeswoman
“They tie us on the force- erly, and we can’t breathe 50 pounds (23 kilograms) U.S. Rep. Veronica Esco- Leticia Zamarripa said. She
since he began his hunger bar, an El Paso Democrat, did not say whether they
strike. He said he is refusing visited some of the men af- were being force-fed.
food to protest guards’ un- ter the initial reports, tweet- Singh said he came to the
fair treatment of him and ing afterward that their situ- United States in August
other detainees from Pun- ation is “unacceptable.” of last year along with his
jab. He said they are being “El Paso and our country cousin, seeking to escape
denied bond while detain- are better than this,” she violence in his home state
ees from other countries said. of Punjab in India. Court re-
were allowed out. Human Rights Watch pub- cords show he was arrested
In a statement, ICE said it lished a dispatch Friday for illegally entering the U.S.
fully respects the rights of all describing force-feeding near El Paso and pleaded
people to voice their opin- as “cruel, inhuman and de- guilty to a misdemeanor.
ion without interference. grading.” His uncle, Amrit Singh, said
“ICE does not retaliate in Hunger strikes among im- that his asylum claim had
any way against hunger migrant detainees are un- been denied.
strikers. ICE explains the common, and court orders A volunteer who has visited
negative health effects of authorizing force-feeding the facility said that the
not eating to our detain- are rare, said an ICE of- men have been request-
ees. For their health and ficial, noting that once ing pillows to elevate their
safety, ICE closely monitors force-feeding is approved, heads when the liquid nutri-
the food and water intake detainees have in the tion is administered through
of those detainees identi- past given up their hunger their noses because the
fied as being on a hunger strikes. The official spoke material backs up and
strike,” the agency said. anonymously because the causes them pain.q