Gabar Choli, a Kurdish filmmaker and activist now living in Canada after deportation, has spoken publicly for the first time about his experience of being force-fed during an eight-month hunger strike in US immigration detention.

Choli was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his asylum application was denied and was arrested during an ICE check-in on 25 February 2025, shortly after Donald Trump returned to the White House. He was held at the Port Isabel federal detention center in Los Fresnos, south Texas.

From late May 2025 until his deportation in January 2026, ICE officials force-fed Choli, often twice daily. He described how detention center guards physically restrained him while medical staff inserted a feeding tube through his nose into his stomach to administer nutritional liquids. Choli said the treatment "mentally broke me" and that he eventually wrote his body an apology letter. He maintained that his hunger strike was a protest for humane treatment.

Court records show ICE sought and received judicial authorization to conduct physical examinations, laboratory testing, hydration, and, if necessary, use restraints to administer nutrients and medications involuntarily, including via intravenous measures or nasogastric tubes. The federal judge overseeing Choli's case, Rolando Olvera, denied his request for legal assistance and extended the force-feeding order multiple times at ICE's request.

An unnamed Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated that ICE respects an individual's right to refuse medical treatment where appropriate but may seek judicial authorization when a medical condition poses a serious risk of death or permanent harm.

Choli's account highlights concerns raised by international human rights groups, which widely consider force-feeding of hunger strikers a form of torture.

Sources