Gabar Choli, a film-maker and activist now living in Canada after being deported, spoke about the coercive force-feeding he endured for eight months while in U.S. immigration detention. He described the practice as psychologically damaging and said it ‘mentally broke me.’

Force-Feeding in ICE Detention

Choli was detained at the Port Isabel federal detention center in Los Fresnos, south Texas, from late May 2025 until his deportation in January 2026. During this time, he was subjected to force-feeding twice a day after being denied asylum. His hunger strike was a protest against the conditions at the facility and his immigration case.

“It just broke me, mentally broke me,” Choli said in an exclusive interview with The Guardian. “It came to a point that I decided to write my body an apology letter.”

Choli described how a team of guards physically restrained him while ICE medical staff inserted a feeding tube through his nose and down his esophagus. The nutritional liquid was then pumped into his stomach.

“I was respectful. I just told them I am protesting for humane treatment, nothing else,” Choli said. “But they were determined to break me.”

Broader Practice of Force-Feeding

According to an investigation by The Guardian, the second Trump administration used court orders to subject at least 18 hunger strikers in ICE detention to involuntary medical procedures between January 2025 and August 2026. This number is higher than initially reported.

DHS sources told The Guardian that ICE “provides involuntary medical treatment only to prevent imminent life-threatening harm or death.” In court records reviewed by The Guardian, “involuntary medical treatment” is used as an umbrella term that includes the option of force-feeding.

According to court records related to Choli, ICE requested the court to allow the agency to conduct routine physical exams and lab testing, administer hydration, and if necessary, use restraints to accomplish this. This includes the administration of nutrients, fluids, and medication via intravenous measures and/or a nasogastric tube.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to specific questions about Choli’s case or the prior articles in the investigative series. However, they sent a statement by email in response to The Guardian’s reporting and requests for comment.

“ICE respects an individual’s right to refuse medical treatment where appropriate,” an unnamed DHS spokesperson said. “However, when an individual’s medical condition presents a serious risk of death or permanent harm, or when other compelling legal or operational interests are implicated, ICE may seek judicial authorization for appropriate medical interventions consistent with applicable law. Any involuntary medical treatment is undertaken only pursuant to legal authority and under the direction of qualified medical professionals.”

“ICE is committed to ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of all individuals in its custody,” the spokesperson added.

Choli’s Background and Detention

Choli arrived in Blaine, Washington state, in 2022. He had been living in Vancouver, where he was a film-maker and activist campaigning for an independent nation of Kurdistan. He came to Canada from what he considers occupied territory in Iran and said he requested asylum in the U.S. due to death threats for his political activism while in Canada.

He was arrested during an ICE check-in on 25 February 2025 after his asylum case failed. He began a hunger strike in detention in California and was transferred to Texas. DHS and ICE then requested an emergency court order from a federal judge to force-feed him and perform other medical procedures, including involuntary intravenous hydration, involuntary blood draws, and urine analysis tests through forced catheterization.

“I am not suicidal,” Choli wrote in a letter to the federal judge overseeing his proceedings. “I am using hunger strike as the only available option to protest the abuse and mistreatment.”

DHS and ICE said in court records that force-feeding Choli was necessary for his health, but also that his prolonged hunger strike posed “a serious threat to the security and good order” of the detention center. They further accused Choli of attempting to “manipulate the immigration system” by striking.

During his first force-feeding sessions, Choli recalled occasions where a nurse working for ICE “shoved the tube so hard” that “he tore my nose from the inside.” After such sessions, he said, “they would take me to a solitary cell and I would just choke on my blood and drink the blood from inside [my throat].”

Many of his court records are sealed, so The Guardian is not able to corroborate some details in Choli’s account. He did not have legal representation throughout the eight-month ordeal. The federal judge presiding over his case, Rolando Olvera, denied Choli’s request for legal assistance and extended the force-feeding order several times at ICE’s request, according to records filed in the southern district of Texas federal court.

Choli suffered injuries and medical complications, including swollen sinuses, damage to his esophagus, and stomach problems, court records show.

“That is just not medical care, that is torture,” Dr. Chanelle Diaz, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University’s medical center, told The Guardian. Diaz has reviewed cases of other detained immigrants subjected to force-feeding and advocated for their release.