First Amendment Advocates Cheer As ICE Abruptly Halts All Force-Feeding At El Paso Detention Facility
A group of men at the facility launched a hunger strike. Officials were force feeding them through tubes in their noses. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said last week the office views force-feeding as potential "ill treatment" that would go against the U.N. Convention Against Torture. In other news, a look at the controversial influx shelter that's often migrant kids' first stop in the country.
The Associated Press:
ICE Halts Force-Feeding Of Immigrant Detainees
The U.S. government has suddenly stopped force-feeding a group of men on a hunger strike inside an El Paso immigration detention center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday. The dramatic reversal comes as public pressure was mounting on ICE to halt the practice, which involves feeding detainees through nasal tubes against their will. Last week, the United Nations human rights office said the force-feeding of Indian hunger strikers at the facility could violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture. (2/14)
Reuters:
First Stop For Migrant Kids: For-Profit Detention Center
For a growing number of migrant children, this is their first home in America: a sprawling campus dotted with beige buildings, massive white tents and metal trailers, next door to a U.S. Air Force base. The federal government is holding nearly 1,600 migrant children here, at what it calls a “temporary influx” shelter. It has added 250 beds in the last two months and could soon house 2,350 children who crossed the nation’s southern border on their own. (Torbati and Cooke, 2/14)
