'It's torture': ICE force-feeds immigrants through nasogastric tubes

Film director Gabar Choli told the publication The Guardian A Kurd, who was force-fed for eight months after staging a hunger strike in a US immigration detention center, has spoken publicly for the first time about his experiences and described the physical and psychological toll it took on him.

Gabar Choly, a filmmaker and activist who now lives in Canada after being deported, reported experiencing forced medical treatment—a practice considered torture by international human rights organizations. He said the procedures were often carried out twice a day after he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his asylum application was denied.

"It just broke me, broke me mentally," Choli admitted. "It got to the point where I decided to write my body an apology letter."

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers force-fed Choli at the Port Isabel Federal Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas, from late May 2025 until his deportation in January of this year. He resorted to a hunger strike to protest his detention conditions and seek a resolution to his immigration case.

Gabar said a group of guards held him down while medical personnel inserted a tube through his nose and into his esophagus to pump nutritional fluid into his stomach.

"I was respectful, just telling them I was protesting for humane treatment, and nothing more," Choli said. "But they were determined to break me."

Much of what happens in ICE detention centers remains hidden from the public.

An investigation released last week found that during Donald Trump's second term, authorities used court orders to subject at least 10 people on hunger strike in such centers to forced medical procedures.

It was later revealed that there were more such cases. Sources in the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that between January 2025 and August 4, 2026, ICE received court orders to forcibly treat 18 hunger strikers. It had previously been established that some people were force-fed, while others ended their hunger strikes at the last minute when presented with a court order.

According to sources, ICE uses involuntary treatment "only to prevent an immediate threat to life or risk of death."

In court documents reviewed in the Choli case and other cases, the term "forced medical treatment" is used as a catch-all term to include, among other things, forced feeding.

According to court documents, ICE requested permission to "conduct regular medical examinations and laboratory tests, provide hydration, and, when necessary, use physical restraints to conduct involuntary observation, treatment, and the administration of nutrients, fluids, and medications through intravenous procedures and/or a nasogastric tube."

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement respects an individual's right to refuse medical treatment when appropriate," said an agency spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity. "However, if an individual's condition creates a serious risk of death or irreversible harm, or affects other significant legal or operational interests, Immigration and Customs Enforcement may apply to a court for appropriate medical intervention in accordance with applicable law. Any involuntary treatment will only be conducted with legal authority and under the direction of qualified medical professionals."

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement is committed to ensuring the safety, security and welfare of all persons in its custody," he added.

Dozens of pages of federal court documents confirm that Choli was force-fed, including statements from doctors and staff. These documents, along with interviews with medical and legal experts and a phone call with Choli himself, reveal many details. His story may be the longest documented case of force-feeding in the service's facilities.

Choli arrived in Blaine, Washington, in 2022. Previously, he lived in Vancouver, where he worked in film and activism advocating for an independent Kurdish state. Gabar arrived in Canada from Iran, which he considers occupied. He claims to have applied for asylum in the United States due to death threats related to his political activities in Canada and lived in Los Angeles on a work permit while his case was pending. However, on February 25, 2025—a month after Donald Trump returned to the White House—he was detained during a routine appearance at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his asylum application was denied.

Choli went on a hunger strike in a detention center in California before being transferred to Texas. Then, according to documents from the federal court for the Southern District of Texas, DHS and ICE applied to the federal court for emergency authorization to force-feed and perform other procedures, including forced intravenous fluids, blood draws, and urine tests using catheterization, without the patient's consent.

"I am not suicidal," Choli wrote in a letter to the federal judge presiding over his case. "I am using the hunger strike as the only available means to protest violence and abuse."

In court filings, the agencies argued that force-feeding was necessary to preserve his health and that a prolonged hunger strike posed a "serious threat to security and order" in the detention center. Furthermore, Choli was accused of attempting to "manipulate the immigration system" through his hunger strike.

Recalling his first treatments, Gabar said the nurse inserted the tube so roughly that it tore his nose open. After these sessions, he said, "I was placed in solitary confinement, where I choked on blood and swallowed blood from my throat." Some court documents are classified, so some details of his account cannot be corroborated.

For eight months, Choli had no legal representation. Federal Judge Rolando Olvera denied his request for an attorney and repeatedly extended his force-feeding authorization at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents.

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Choli suffered injuries and medical complications, including sinusitis, damage to the esophagus, and stomach problems.

"This isn't medical care, it's torture," said Dr. Chanel Diaz, an associate professor at Columbia University Medical Center who has studied similar cases and advocates for the release of detained migrants.

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