(Rudy Gutierrez/The El Paso Times/AP)Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have confirmed they are force-feeding nine detainees who initiated a hunger strike at an El Paso detention center. Ten detainees at the facility are under a self-imposed hunger strike, ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said in an email Saturday. Nine of them missed nine consecutive meals, triggering ICE’s hunger strike protocols — medical evaluations and health monitoring. One detainee on a hunger strike detailed to the wire service the excruciating experience of guards dragging him from his cell and constraining him to force-feed him through a nasal tube. “For their health and safety, ICE closely monitors the food and water intake of those detainees identified as being on a hunger strike.”Besides the El Paso detention center, there are four other detainees on a hunger strike nationwide, ICE said Saturday: one each in ICE custody at facilities in Miami, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco.

Source: Washington Post February 02, 2019 21:45 UTC