Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take any opportunity to abuse individuals during deportation. The Associated Press recently released an investigation into ICE’s use of a full-body restraint device, the WRAP. The apparatus muzzles the individual waist down and constrains their torso at a 30-90° angle. The device has been associated with 43 deaths in police reports over the past decade. ICE refused to confirm their documented usage, despite the numerous reports by detainees describing their experience with the WRAP as extremely traumatic. Texas A&M law professor Fatma Marouf said binding an individual like that can “inflict a lot of physiological harm.” ICE’s use of the WRAP is inhumane and despicable.

Concerns of the WRAP’s use include the excessive time it is used for during transfers and flights without medical re-evaluation — some reported being constrained up to 16 hours. Another worry is the steep-angled seating of the detainees, which can restrict breathing, especially when combined with the use of the WRAP and the standard five-point shackles. Additionally, medical experts have identified the WRAP’s major health risks, including reduced blood flow, circulation problems, numbness, nerve damage from sustained compression, panic, trauma and stress-related physiological responses. 

Juan Pineda, a Salvadorian immigrant who claimed to be in the U.S. legally, was apprehended by ICE. After Pineda contested his detainment, ICE officers put him in the WRAP and drove him hours away to the Mexican border. After Pineda refused to sign deportation papers, the officers broke his arm and gave him a black eye. The explicit dehumanization ICE officials perform using the WRAP is deplorable; it is an obvious violation of human rights. Under President Donald Trump’s administration, it seems that National Detention Standards are not enforced for ICE. When analyzing the total required number of standards for each year’s issue, the standards for detainment since Trump’s takeover have plummeted. The expectation of basic humanity has diminished to disgusting levels. 

America is doing everything in its power to continue oppressing individuals during deportation. In the Fiscal Year 2023 ICE Annual Report by the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, concerns by the department regarding WRAP were stated. This was a seeming attempt at protecting immigrants — unfortunately, the Trump administration would never allow that. 

Earlier this year, the office that produced the report was largely dismantled, as the Trump administration called the office a roadblock to enforcement operations — a bizarre admission, yet unsurprising. The DHS’ cutting of offices dedicated to civil rights protections is a clear confirmation that treating immigrants as human beings is nonessential. This is evident by ICE’s known mistreatment in detention centers, and the increased use of the WRAP is only furthering dispensation toward protecting the liberties of living persons. 

ICE continues to demonstrate that, without proper supervision, it will abuse detainees. A revision of the department must occur with new restrictions and improved authority to maintain a humane production. ICE’s use of the WRAP is only a fraction of the horrors it commits.