澳彩开奖

Then they pushed the tube down his throat, all the way to his stomach, and 鈥� against his will 鈥� pumped a nutritional supplement into his body. The force of the tube going down his throat took away his voice.

Mahad is among hundreds of asylum seekers in Louisiana immigrant prisons who have resorted to hunger strikes to protest their detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).聽 聽

But instead of allowing them to protest 鈥� a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution 鈥� ICE is retaliating by force-feeding them. Force-feeding has unethical and unjustified. It may even violate the .

Under the Trump administration, however, migrant hunger strikes and retaliatory force-feeding are , particularly in Louisiana.

鈥淓veryone has their own right to express themselves freely and has the right to bodily autonomy,鈥� said Laura Murchie, an attorney with the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI) 鈥� a project of the 澳彩开奖 that provides pro bono legal assistance to those facing deportation proceedings in the Deep South. 鈥淗unger strikers are capable of making the decision to engage in a hunger strike, and that decision should be respected.鈥� 聽

The number of immigrants held in ICE custody in Louisiana has recently skyrocketed. Between 2018 and 2019, the state more than the number of immigrants it houses from 2,000 to nearly 9,000, holding them in newly converted jails. 聽聽聽聽

The growing number of detained immigrants in Louisiana鈥檚 immigrant prisons highlights the state鈥檚 successful effort to make money from its immigrant detention system. Making a profit by has long been a tradition in the state, even before the Jim Crow era. By indefinitely detaining asylum seekers, the state has created a rapidly growing revenue stream.

鈥淭he growing number of hunger strikes in ICE prisons across the country are no coincidence,鈥� , the southern regional coordinator for , an organization that seeks to end immigrant detention. 鈥淚t is indicative of complete disbelief in a fair legal process and the lengths ICE is willing to go to indefinitely detain them.鈥澛� 聽

Freedom for Immigrants, which has been fighting for hunger strikers鈥� freedom in Louisiana, has filed a with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 civil rights office to demand the release of Mahad and four other asylum seekers at LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana.聽

All five men had loving sponsors willing to support and house them, allowing them to pursue their asylum claims outside of detention, the organization reported.

鈥淗ow to address hunger striking really boils down to the fact that immigrants should not be detained,鈥� said Murchie, the SIFI lawyer who represented Mahad. 鈥淚CE 鈥� and the private prison companies that run the facilities 鈥� repeatedly look the other way when issues with detention conditions are raised. They pretend like everything is fine. But it is far from fine when they refuse to acknowledge their active and complicit roles in the torturing of people.鈥澛犅犅� 聽聽

Seized by ICE at the U.S.-Mexico border for simply requesting their legal right to asylum, to immigrant prisons in Louisiana between 2018 and 2019. ICE has refused to provide updates on their immigration cases.

Forced to wither away in rural, remote detention centers with no timeline of when they might be released, they remain unseen and largely forgotten. In May 2019, the 澳彩开奖 sued the Trump administration for categorically denying the release of migrants on parole in the Southeast.

As their requests for release from ICE detention have gone ignored in Louisiana, migrants have turned to drastic measures to demand answers from the agency. Sit-ins and written complaints have proven futile.聽聽聽聽

have at some point decided to hunger strike in order to peacefully protest their prolonged detention and encourage ICE to communicate with them.

Treated like criminals

In the past, those who applied for asylum in the United States outside of detention if a judge approved their release through parole or bond. In 2016, the New Orleans ICE Field Office of asylum seekers.聽

But as the Trump administration continues to make immigration crackdowns its centerpiece, approval rates for parole in Louisiana have , leaving many migrants hopeless.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽

In August 2019 at Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, staged a hunger strike in the immigrant prison鈥檚 outdoor recreation area to demand answers from ICE. A man detained at Pine Prairie who witnessed the protest said the hunger strike and the protesters鈥� intention was never to hurt anyone.

But that didn鈥檛 stop ICE from spraying the men with tear gas and shooting them with rubber bullets to stop the protest. ICE officials then forced some of them into segregation, or 鈥�el pozo,鈥� isolating them in a cell. They were also blocked from contacting loved ones.聽聽聽

The 澳彩开奖 has followed the stories of migrants who are often treated like criminals, even though their only 鈥渃rime鈥� is seeking asylum. Labeled by ICE officials and prison guards as perros 鈥� dogs 鈥� they are told that they have no rights, and are ordered to 鈥渟peak English, because you鈥檙e in America.鈥�

at LaSalle, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 do any crime, I just seek asylum.鈥澛犅�

Meanwhile, as the money continues to flow into state coffers, migrants are 鈥渟tuck in 鈥榟ell,鈥欌�� waiting for case updates that may never come. As ICE continues to ignore them, hunger strikers on the brink of death in Louisiana report that they

鈥榊ou鈥檙e next鈥� 聽聽

In October 2018, Mahad, who is married with a daughter, was asked by four members of India鈥檚 Congress Party join them. When he refused, he was punched, kicked and thrown to the ground like a ragdoll. His attackers threatened to murder him. 聽聽

Two months later, Mahad was attacked again, this time by six members of the Congress Party who used wooden sticks to beat him for roughly 20 minutes before aiming a revolver at him. A village farmworker intervened and saved his life.

After the attack, Mahad wasn鈥檛 even able to stand up, so the villager took him home. When he returned to his house bloodied, his family was devastated. Police rejected his statement. 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽

Defeated, he remained in India but left his house after learning that the Congress Party was still searching for him. He fled to the United States in May 2019, believing the U.S. was 鈥渢he safest place.鈥澛犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅�

After presenting himself at the Calexico, California, port of entry on May 17, 2019, Mahad was transferred to Tallahatchie, Mississippi. Then he was moved to River Correctional Center in Ferriday, Louisiana. He was locked up at LaSalle on May 23, 2019. 聽聽

Along with the four other men from Southeast Asia, Mahad began to hunger strike on Nov. 1, 2019 鈥� six months after he was initially detained.

Over his objections, Mahad, 31, was force-fed until he was deported on Jan. 29, a total of 90 days. Weak and wheelchair-bound, he was before boarding a one-way flight back to India.

鈥淲e have no confidence based on the information we鈥檝e received that it was even medically safe for Mahad to fly when he was deported,鈥� SIFI Senior Lead Attorney Peter Isbister said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e concerned that ICE jeopardized his health and his life by removing him when they did.鈥澛犅犅犅�

Guards have warned the four remaining hunger strikers at LaSalle that they might also be deported, saying, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e next.鈥� 聽聽聽

A 鈥榙eeply alarming鈥� immigration detention system

Isbister said it鈥檚 important to understand the dire straits that lead migrants to feel as if their only option is to hunger strike. 聽聽

鈥淚 think every American should find it deeply alarming that the immigration detention system being carried out in our names would be so brutal, and lead people to feel so desperate that a prolonged hunger strike seems like somebody鈥檚 best option,鈥� Isbister said. 鈥淗unger strikers鈥� stories and experiences fit into a larger, nationwide pattern of ICE providing to detained individuals.鈥�

Across the country, ICE has systematically ignored the medical, mental health and disability needs of its prisoners.

In August 2019, the 澳彩开奖 and its allies filed a lawsuit charging ICE with violating the Fifth Amendment and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, after individuals held in ICE custody were repeatedly denied health care, faced discrimination due to their disabilities, were subjected to harmful isolation and were not given proper accommodations for their needs.

Reports of sexual assault, , deplorable conditions and routine use of force is also widespread among immigrant prisons, treatment that is also inflicted upon hunger strikers. 聽聽聽聽

Coupled with the horrific conditions in which they are housed, along with ICE鈥檚 refusal to communicate with them, many of Louisiana鈥檚 detained migrants resort to hunger striking as a final way to plead for their freedom.

Starving for justice

The took place in March, at River Correctional Center. But Trump鈥檚 stance on immigration is firm, as he vows to hold asylum seekers in detention or force them to wait in Mexico as their claims are considered.

For people like Mahad, who passed the interview that validated his fear of home, , 鈥淭he court process will take years sometimes for them to attend. [We鈥檙e] not releasing them into our country any longer. They鈥檒l wait.鈥� 聽聽

As the Trump administration continues to deny their release, many hunger strikers are left weak and wheelchair bound, and are literally .

Photo by聽AP