California: Following mounting pressure, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped force-feeding Indian detainees on a hunger strike inside an El Paso immigration detention centre. Last week, the United Nations human rights office said the force-feeding hunger strikers at the facility could violate the UN Convention Against Torture. A US district judge said the government had to stop force-feeding two of the detained Indian immigrants, but warned that if their health started to decline he would consider ordering force-feeding again. All force-feeding at the detention center had stopped, ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said. “This is a win for us,” said Louis Lopez, who is representing Malkeet Singh and Jasvir Singh in the case.
ICE said there are currently 12 detainees refusing food, nine from India, three from Cuba. US District Judge David Guaderrama heard from Dr. Michelle Iglesias about how men detained in the El Paso facility are restrained and have feeding tubes pushed through their noses. The judge asked whether they had some other way they could protest, and sought details about the Singhs’ physical condition.
“What are the physiological and psychological effects of allowing a hunger strike to continue unabated by force-feeding?” he asked. In addition to Guaderrama, US District Judges David Briones, Philip R. Martinez and Frank Montalvo at the El Paso courthouse have issued orders for force-feeding in recent weeks. Supporters of the hunger strikers from the non-profit Strengthening South Asian Communities in America staged a protest in El Paso on behalf of detainees.
Those orders are secret, under seal, because they contain “highly sensitive and personal medical information,” Montalvo said in a letter declining a request to unseal the orders. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the office views force-feeding as potential “ill treatment” that would go against the convention, ratified by the United States in 1994. The statement by the Geneva-based office echoed concerns raised by 14 Democratic lawmakers who have asked ICE for more information. Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who toured the El Paso Processing Center and met with the hunger strikers two weeks ago, found them “deeply traumatized” and frail.
SALDEF, a national civil rights, advocacy, and educational organization whose mission is to empower Sikh Americans by building dialogue, deepening understanding, promoting civic and political participation, said it was part of the coalition of civil rights groups that had planned the rally outside the El Paso Processing Center to bring attention to this issue. According to a statement by Indian American communications director for SALDEF Gujari Singh, “It is imperative that the Department of Homeland Security immediately release the individuals engaged in these hunger strikes to ensure their well-being, safety, and protection of their due process rights.”
19 detained students allowed to return
Nineteen Telugu students, who had enrolled in a fake institution called the University of Farmington, have been granted permission for voluntary departure to India by a local court. According to the report, 20 students have been under detention at two separate centres since 31 January. Two Telugu students and one Palestinian student were given departure permission on 9 February, and 17 remaining Telugu students were granted permission by a Michigan court on 12 February. Another 100 Telugu students are still held up at 30 other detention centres.
