Report details the disturbing reality of force-feeding inside ICE detention centers

This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 8 episode of “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.”

I want to tell you about something that’s happening — not in a war zone, not under some authoritarian regime, but right here, right now, on American soil.

Inside some Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers across the country, some detainees have reportedly decided that the only form of protest left to them — whether they are protesting the conditions they are kept in or the very legality of their confinement — is to stop eating: a hunger strike. And, we are now learning, thanks to an investigation by The Guardian, that in some cases, authorities have responded to those protests by force-feeding detainees.

Here’s what that typically looks like: A detainee is restrained, often forcibly. Their head is held still as a medical professional threads a plastic tube into a nostril, down the throat and into the stomach and then liquid nutrition is pumped through the tube.

Dr. Chanelle Diaz, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, told MS NOW that patients describe it as “one of the most uncomfortable medical procedures” and that it’s generally not something a doctor would subject an “awake, alert patient” to. The World Medical Association calls it “the most unsuitable approach to save lives.”

Despite all of this, an extraordinary investigative report by The Guardian found that in 2025 and 2026, Department of Homeland Security officials “have quietly attempted to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in US immigrant detention to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding.” It’s the first known set of cases in Trump’s second term.

And of those 10 people, at least three, and possibly as many as five, reportedly were ultimately forced into treatment. The cases include a Kurdish asylum seeker held at Port Isabel Service Processing Center in south Texas, who was force-fed intermittently for nearly eight months. It ended only when he was deported. An Afghan man, held at various detention centers across south Texas, who was force-fed daily for six months, sometimes while being physically restrained by a “use-of-force” team. And a Ukrainian man detained by ICE in Florida who struggled with bipolar disorder.

After being transferred through multiple facilities, including the now-closed “Alligator Alcatraz,” that man went on a hunger strike to protest his continued detention. His attorney told The Guardian he was “deteriorating very rapidly,” adding that officials “refused to give his bipolar medication, citing his hunger strike, while [the detainee] refused to end his hunger strike until he received medical care — leading to an impasse.”

After 44 days without food, ICE requested an order to force-feed him. But his lawyer intervened and he was taken to a hospital, where he began to eat again after 68 days on strike.

DHS responded to The Guardian’s reporting with a statement that read, in part, “ICE has a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody … when an individual’s medical condition presents a serious risk of death or permanent harm, or when other compelling legal or operational interests are implicated, ICE may seek judicial authorization for appropriate medical interventions consistent with applicable law.”

The department also told The Guardian, “This is the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives.”

The “healthcare” the federal government is talking about, including these procedures — which many human rights groups and medical organizations consider torture — are processed through legal channels. DHS and ICE seek permission from a federal judge to forcibly treat a hunger-striker.

But, as The Guardian reports, the orders often amount to a “rubber stamp”: They’re approved quickly, behind closed doors and without meaningful due process. So much so that in six of the cases reviewed by The Guardian, detained immigrants did not have any legal representation during court proceedings.

As we continue to witness Donald Trump’s brutal immigration crackdown play out across the country, it’s important to remember that behind every arrest is a person who may end up trapped in a detention system with poor living conditions, spoiled food and medical neglect.

Allison Detzel contributed.

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