An Afghan man held in an immigration detention centre in Texas was force-fed daily for almost six months, from September 2025 to March 2026. This involved repeated insertions of a nasogastric tube while he was restrained.
This case is one of at least 10 instances since January 2025 where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has attempted to subject detained hunger strikers to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding. At least three, and possibly five, of these individuals were protesting their confinement conditions and were subjected to the procedures.
The process for force-feeding involves ICE requesting emergency court orders from federal judges. In six of the cases reviewed, detained immigrants did not have legal representation during these court proceedings. Detention centre guards restrain hunger strikers while medical staff insert a tube through the nose to deliver nutritional liquid.
Dr Kate Sugarman, a family practice doctor, stated that what is being done "qualifies as torture." She noted that hunger striking is an "act of desperation."