Trump Administration's ICE Used Court Orders for Force-Feeding of Hunger Strikers

Homeland Security officials operating under the Trump administration pursued court orders to subject at least 10 individuals engaged in hunger strikes within U.S. immigrant detention facilities to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding, intravenous hydration, and involuntary blood draws. This practice, widely condemned as torture by international human rights organizations, was detailed in court records obtained by The Guardian. The investigation uncovered that during 2025 and 2026, these coercive medical interventions were definitively carried out on a minimum of three detained immigrants. An additional two individuals were likely subjected to such forced treatments. The remaining five hunger strikers, facing the imminent prospect of these procedures, ultimately chose to end their protests by breaking their fasts at the last minute.

The records highlight specific instances of prolonged force-feeding. One Kurdish asylum seeker, detained at the privately-operated Port Isabel service processing center in Los Fresnos, Texas, endured force-feeding for nearly eight months. This extensive period of involuntary medical intervention, documented through a series of federal court filings in the southern district of Texas, commenced in May 2025 and concluded only with the individual's deportation. Another hunger striker held at the same Port Isabel facility was subjected to similar involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding, for approximately six months between September 2025 and March 2026, according to filings in the same federal court.

Further evidence points to the use of these tactics at other detention centers. At the Krome service processing center in Miami, a facility also privately managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), one detainee experienced forced medical procedures for close to three months. Court filings from the southern district of Florida indicate that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated these coercive practices shortly before Donald Trump's potential second inauguration in 2025, continuing them thereafter. The investigation also suggests that two other hunger strikers were likely subjected to forced medical interventions. One was held at the Northwest ICE processing center in Washington state, and another at the Montgomery processing center near Houston, Texas. Federal court filings in the western district of Washington and the southern district of Texas lend credence to these allegations.

The reliance on court orders to compel these medical procedures underscores a significant aspect of the Trump administration's approach to managing dissent within its immigration detention system. This strategy aimed to override the autonomy of detainees exercising their right to protest through hunger strikes, employing state power to enforce medical interventions against their will. The use of such measures raises profound ethical and legal questions regarding the treatment of vulnerable individuals in detention and the boundaries of state authority in medical contexts.