‘According to an investigation by the Guardian , at least 10 immigrant detainees have been subjected to force feeding and involuntary medical procedures.’ Photograph: Erin Hooley/AP View image in fullscreen ‘According to an investigation by the Guardian , at least 10 immigrant detainees have been subjected to force feeding and involuntary medical procedures.’ Photograph: Erin Hooley/AP Opinion ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) ICE’s tactics look increasingly like torture Judith Levine Plans for gloves that can deliver electric shocks underline the homeland security department’s sadistic practices
O n 11 August, the Associated Press reported that the Homeland Security Agency will spend up to $20m to equip its agents with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks to the skin of a person deemed uncooperative. The “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices”– branded Glove, for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter – will be supplied by their manufacturer, Compliant Technologies, through a no-bid contract .
News of the acquisition inspired the editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes to publish a cartoon of an ICE agent wearing the glove, underneath which are a branding iron, an iron maiden, a rack, and other compliance technologies. AKA, instruments of torture.
Indeed, Amnesty International reports that portable, convenient electric shock devices made for law enforcement like the glove can be, and have been, used for torture. Once called weapons, they’re now marketed as “humane” . They are the former. A prisoner in Kentucky died of a heart attack after 27 successive shocks, directly following 13 Taser hits.
ICE tactics, already sadistic, are looking increasingly like torture. The Geneva conventions define torture as the infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, by an agent of the state acting in their official capacity, to obtain intelligence or confession or to intimidate, coerce, or punish a prisoner or detainee. More than 90% of detainees are held in privately-owned immigration detention facilities, but their employees are contractual agents of the federal government.
According to an investigation by the Guardian , at least 10 immigrant detainees have been subjected to force-feeding and involuntary medical procedures. The detainees are on hunger strikes in protest of the appalling conditions of their incarceration, including, ironically, inedible food and denial of necessary medical treatment. One of the victims, a Kurdish film-maker, described being held in solitary confinement, tackled, shackled, and force fed twice daily for eight months. HSA anticipates hunger strike management will cost $169,000 in fiscal 2026.
To force-feed a person, a tube is inserted into their mouth or nose and pushed down into their stomach. Then liquid food or medicine is poured into the tube through a funnel. The person gags, chokes, and often vomits; when they struggle – a natural response – they are usually restrained. “What they’re doing qualifies as torture,” a doctor told the Guardian , expressing a contention widely held by medical professionals, ethicists and human rights experts .
Read more Some of the torture is outsourced. The administration is sending asylum seekers back to the countries from which they fled under threat of imprisonment, torture or execution – and where they face torture or death on return. The US has built a gulag of collaborating third countries where deportees may be locked up inde…