Guardian Details 10 ICE Force-Feeding Cases Since 2025 as 1 Detainee Endured 6 Months
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 5
Guardian Details 10 ICE Force-Feeding Cases Since 2025 as 1 Detainee Endured 6 Months
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 5
Summary
Ten ICE cases since January 2025 involved attempts to impose involuntary medical procedures on detained hunger strikers, and at least three detainees — likely five — were force-fed, the Guardian reported.
Six of those cases unfolded without legal representation, with ICE obtaining emergency federal court orders in largely sealed proceedings before guards restrained detainees and medical staff inserted nasogastric tubes.
One Afghan man was force-fed daily in Texas for nearly six months after a judge approved the order without a hearing; court filings later said the case was "resolved" after he apparently ended his strike.
Andriy Shepitsen, a 46-year-old Ukrainian detainee with severe bipolar disorder, avoided force-feeding after his lawyer intervened, prompting a hospital evaluation and dismissal of ICE's case five days later.
A Saudi woman, still detained more than a year later, broke her hunger strike before a scheduled hearing, underscoring concerns from rights groups and doctors that expanding ICE detention could expose more migrants to coercive procedures.