Fact check: ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is conducting operations in the United States.

Verdict: verified — Trust Score 90/100

The post accurately reports that ICE received court permission to force-feed a Cuban detainee in Texas using a rare, non-consensual surgical procedure called a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. This event, including the details of the procedure and court approval, is confirmed by 4 sources, including The Guardian and Al Mayadeen English.

Platform
instagram
Source author
aaronparnas — see all fact-checks of this account
Original post
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc6OjlxRF1h/?igsi=eWZlcmFuazhodGpu
Verified on
September 5, 2026
Verification ID
jO7FzizkbRxkYRxpU22jSw

Original content reviewed

Platform: INSTAGRAM Author: @aaronparnas --- Caption/Description --- ICE is doing this in the United States. Published: 2026-09-05T14:58:25.000Z ---VERIFICATION_SUMMARY--- Platform: INSTAGRAM Author: @aaronparnas Person shown on screen (from video analysis): A man wearing a white shirt and a black baseball cap. What the video shows (from video analysis): A man in a white shirt and black baseball cap is speaking directly to the camera. He is seated indoors, with a white wall and a window visible in the background. --- HOW TO VERIFY THIS (provenance-first) --- 1. SOURCE-TRACE: take the MOST DISTINCTIVE, verbatim details above — exact unusual quotes, named people/places/objects — and web-search them TOGETHER as a combination, alongside the subject/person shown and the topic, to find the ORIGINAL source of this clip (an official channel, the uploader, a news report). A combination of distinctive phrases has essentially ONE source on the web. 2. JUDGE FROM PROVENANCE: If a credible source (official account, established news outlet) documents this exact clip/event, it is a REAL, documented event — verify accordingly, and use that source to confirm WHO is shown. If after searching NO credible source corroborates an extraordinary or specific claim, state it CANNOT BE VERIFIED (and for a sensational claim lean toward not-credible). Do NOT default to "verified" on tangential, generic facts. 2b. PARTIAL PROVENANCE IS A RED FLAG, NOT A PASS: finding news coverage of the BACKGROUND event (the place, the deployment, the crisis) while NO source documents the SPECIFIC scene the video depicts is the signature of a synthetic/satirical video grafted onto a real news moment — today's most common misinformation format. When the depicted scene is also extraordinary or absurd (joke unit names on vehicles, food as crowd control, officials in meme-format actions), conclude the video is AI-generated/satirical: say so DEFINITIVELY in aiDetection and the verdictSummary, and grade the post a

Claims analyzed (3)

  1. verified: ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is conducting operations in the United States.
    ICE is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, responsible for immigration enforcement within the United States. Its operations are well-documented and ongoing.
  2. verified: ICE cut open a man's stomach in Texas to force feed him, a detainee who was on a hunger strike was tortured by ICE officials, and it was approved by a U.S. court. The Guardian has revealed that ICE force fed a Cuban detainee on hunger strike in a Texas detention facility using a rare, non-consensual surgery called a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, where they cut into his abdomen and inserted a tube indefinitely.
    The Guardian reported on September 5, 2026, that federal immigration officials received permission from a judge to force-feed a detained Cuban hunger striker in a Texas detention center using a rare, non-consensual surgical procedure called a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. This involves making an incision in the abdomen and inserting a tube for indefinite placement.
  3. verified: This is arguably one of the first times that this has happened in the United States of America in ICE custody.
    The Guardian article states that this specific procedure (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) has not been previously identified in other force-feeding cases reviewed by The Guardian, suggesting its rarity in ICE custody.

Sources consulted (10)

Related verifications

AI-generated analysis. Not a substitute for professional fact-checking.