‘Shoved the tube so hard it tore my nose’: Kurdish film-maker recounts ‘inhumane’ ICE force-feeding
Kurdish filmmaker Gabar Choli recounts his experience of being forcibly fed by ICE while in detention in Texas during a hunger strike. He describes the physical and psychological trauma caused by the involuntary medical procedures.
Why it matters
The account raises significant human rights concerns regarding the treatment of asylum seekers and the use of force in immigration detention facilities.
Kurdish film-maker Gabar Choli pictured in London, Ontario. Kurdish film-maker Gabar Choli pictured in London, Ontario. Force-fed by ICE US news ‘Shoved the tube so hard it tore my nose’: Kurdish film-maker recounts ‘inhumane’ ICE force-feeding Gabar Choli tells of how, for months, he was shackled, pinned and forcibly fed – and the physical and emotional scars the ordeal has left
Prefer the Guardian on Google In June 2025, a sluggish and thin Gabar Choli, with sunken temples and bones visible under his skin, braced himself for the immigration detention center guards to charge into his cell once again.
Choli was in a solitary confinement medical cell inside the Port Isabel service processing center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) detention facility in south Texas where immigrants arrested in Donald Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown are detained.
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