Miami, December 22 (RHC)-- A judge in the U.S. city of Miami has ordered force-feeding of immigration detainees who have been on a hunger strike since early December in protest against their conditions.

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga authorized force-feeding of the inmates who began the strike action at the Krome detention center on December 2nd. The inmates, who were brought into the courtroom in wheelchairs, are 10 Bangladeshis, seven of whom still refuse to eat.

The judge authorized Krome medical staff to force-feed them through nasal-gastric tubes, arguing they have better methods to protest their conditions. She added: "They are not likely to survive without compelled feeding.” Previously, the judge had granted a petition from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security to authorize involuntary blood draws and other medical procedures.

The men have each lost up to 15 percent of body weight since they began the strike, according to Krome’s staff doctor, Dalian Caraballo, who described their conditions as dangerous. Caraballo added that force-feeding them through nasal-gastric tubes would be easier than feeding them intravenously at a hospital.

The detainees were all arrested in Hidalgo, Texas, while attempting to enter the United States in 2014 and 2015.