ICE’s use of full-body restraints during deportations raises concerns over inhumane treatment

By JASON DEAREN JIM MUSTIAN and DORANY PINEDA Associated Press The Nigerian man described being roused with other detainees in September in the middle of the night U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers clasped shackles on their hands and feet he disclosed and notified them they were being sent to Ghana even though none of them was from there When they appealed to speak to their attorney he stated the officers refused and straitjacketed the already-shackled men in full-body restraint suits called the WRAP then loaded them onto a plane for the -hour-flight to West Africa Referred to as the burrito or the bag the WRAP has become a harrowing part of deportations for specific immigrants This photo provided by Safe Restraints Inc in October shows a custom version of the WRAP restraining equipment made for the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Safe Restraints via AP It was just like a kidnapping the Nigerian man who s part of a federal lawsuit notified The Associated Press in an interview from the detainment camp in which he and other deportees were being held in Ghana Like others placed in the restraints interviewed by the AP he spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals The AP identified multiple examples of ICE using the black-and-yellow full-body restraint device the WRAP in deportations Its use was described to the AP by five people who stated they were restrained in the device sometimes for hours on ICE deportation flights dating to And spectators and family members in four countries described the AP about its use on at least seven other people this year The AP determined ICE has used the device despite internal concerns voiced in a statement by the civil rights division of its parent agency the U S Department of Homeland Safety in part due to reports of deaths involving use of the WRAP by local law enforcement And the AP has identified a dozen fatal cases in the last decade where local police or jailers around the U S used the WRAP and autopsies determined restraint played a role in the death The WRAP is the subject of a growing number of federal lawsuits likening incorrect usage of the device to punishment and even torture whether used in a jail or by immigration leadership during international flights Among advocates concerns is that ICE is not tracking the WRAP s use as required by federal law when officers use force In this image from surveillance video provided by Jefferson City Correctional Center jailers examine Othel Moore Jr at the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Jefferson City Mo on Dec who according to an autopsy asphyxiated in the WRAP restraint Jefferson City Correctional Center via AP DHS has paid Safe Restraints Inc the WRAP s California-based maker since it started purchasing the devices in late during the Obama administration Governing body purchasing records show the two Trump administrations have been responsible for about of that spending ICE would not provide AP with records documenting its use of the WRAP despite multiple requests and it s not clear how frequently it has been used in the current and prior administrations The WRAP s manufacturer says it intended the device to be a lifesaver for law enforcement confronting erratic people who were physically attacking officers or harming themselves But ICE leaders have a much lower threshold for deploying the WRAP than the manufacturer advises the AP revealed Detainees interviewed by the AP revealed ICE officers used the restraints on them after they had been shackled They revealed this was done to intimidate or punish them for asking to speak to their attorneys or expressing fear at being deported often to places they fled due to violence and torture The West African deportee described a terrifying hourslong experience that left his legs swollen to the point where he walked with a limp They bundled me and my colleagues he revealed tied us up in a straitjacket ICE and DHS would not answer detailed questions from the AP and refused a request for the administration s agenda for when and how to use the WRAP The use of restraints on detainees during deportation flights has been long standing standard ICE protocol and an essential measure to ensure the safety and well-being of both detainees and the officers agents accompanying them Tricia McLaughlin DHS spokesperson revealed in an email to AP Our practices align with those followed by other relevant officers and is fully in line with established legal standards The agency would not specify those executives or describe its practices The use of these devices is inhumane and incompatible with our nation s fundamental values disclosed Noah Baron an attorney for the West African deportees Charles Hammond CEO of Safe Restraints Inc disclosed his company has made a modified version of the device for ICE with changes meant to allow people to be kept in it during flights and long bus trips ICE s version includes a ring on the front of the suit that allows a subject s cuffed hands to be attached while still allowing for limited use to eat and drink he reported In addition the ICE version has soft elbow cuffs Hammond explained which connect in the back so a person can move for proper circulation but can t flip an elbow out to hit someone An AP reporter recounted for Hammond several of the claims made by people who had been placed in the WRAP for long flights All of those interviewed by AP announced their hands and feet were already restrained by chains All denied fighting with officers saying they were either crying or pleading against their deportation to countries they deemed dangerous Hammond noted that if true that certain people were not being violent and entirely protesting verbally putting them in the WRAP could be improper use That s not the purpose of the WRAP If the deportee is a current or feasible threat to themselves to officers to staff to the plane restraints are justified If it s not then restraints aren t Please help me Juan Antonio Pineda announced he was put into a bag in late September and driven by immigration officers to the Mexico frontier It was black with yellow stripes and had straps that immobilized his body and connected over his shoulders the WRAP In this image from video provided by Xiomara Ochoa Juan Antonio Pineda shows a cast for his arm as he speaks during an interview from the ICE detention center in Florence Ariz on Sept Xiomara Ochoa via AP Pineda who is from El Salvador was in the U S legally he explained in a video from an ICE detention center in Arizona On Sept he went to an appointment in Maryland to get permission for another year his wife Xiomara Ochoa mentioned in an interview from El Salvador Instead he was detained by ICE and informed he d be deported to Mexico but the documents he was shown had someone else s name he reported Even so he was sent to the Florence System Processing Center detention facility in Arizona Early morning on Wednesday Sept he announced officers tied his hands and legs placed him into the bag and drove him four hours to the frontier When he refused to sign the deportation papers Pineda alleges officers broke his right arm and gave him a black eye before driving him back another four hours in the bag The AP was unable to independently confirm how he was injured Pineda s video shows him with a cast on his arm and bruising on his face The next day Thursday Sept they tied him up again put him in the bag and drove him to the boundary where Mexican immigration personnel turned him away he reported Eight hours there and back and they don t give me food or water or anything he commented in the video which his wife shared with the AP Please help me He was ultimately deported to Mexico Ochoa announced ICE did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the AP regarding Pineda s episode In addition to the Nigerian man flown to Ghana four others interviewed by AP announced they were placed in the WRAP and carried onto deportation flights since the first Trump administration As U S immigration administrators move aggressively to meet the president s deportation goals advocates and attorneys for immigrants are echoing the concerns of the establishment s own civil rights inquiry that ICE officers aren t trained on how to use the restraints This should be a last resort type of restraint after they ve already tried other things disclosed Fatma Marouf a Texas A M law professor who has sued ICE over its use of the device Just being bound up like that can inflict a lot of psychological harm A few deportees stated they were left in the WRAP for an entire fight A lawsuit filed on behalf of the Nigerian man and four others at the moment detained in Dema Camp Ghana included the allegation from one that ICE left the restraint suit on him for hours only once undoing the lower part so he could use the bathroom No one should be put into a WRAP I don t even think they strap animals like that recalled a man who noted he suffered a concussion and dislocated jaw being placed into the device in before a deportation flight to Cape Verde an African island nation AP s review of his therapeutic records authenticated he suffered those injuries in It was the preponderance painful thing I ve been through reported the man adding he was restrained largest part of the -hour flight Forget the assault forget the broken jaw Just the WRAP itself was hurtful Related Articles Rare October storm brings heavy rain and feasible mudslides to Southern California In the current era in History October Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier SpaceX launches the th test flight of its mega Starship rocket Bureaucrats name the killed in Tennessee plant blast with a painstaking probe promised JPMorgan to invest up to billion in US companies with crucial ties to national safeguard Also the man explained the metal ring his cuffed hands were attached to one of the ICE modifications to the WRAP designed to increase comfort injured him When they slammed me face forward on the floor that metal ring dug into my chest causing me bruising and pain which was part of my injuries that I complained about ICE s current use of the WRAP comes amid an unprecedented wave of masked federal immigration officers grabbing suspected immigrants off the street and mounting accusations that the Trump administration has dehumanized them including by subjecting them to cruel and extraordinary detention conditions ICE s use of the WRAP has continued despite a document by DHS s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties or CRCL that raised serious concerns over the lack of policies governing its use ICE agreed with the internal findings on selected points a then-DHS official involved in the review reported but challenged the notion that the WRAP should be classified as a four-point restraint a designation that would place more limitations on its use The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren t authorized to discuss the inquiry DHS largely dismantled the office that produced the record earlier this year amid widespread ruling body firings calling it a roadblock to enforcement operations Without changes to the current training and the lack of initiative CRCL has serious concerns about ICE s continued use of the WRAP wrote the overview s authors who cited a news article mentioning lawsuits claiming the device had led to deaths Use by police and in jails Last year police officers in Virginia Beach Virginia placed Rolin Hill in the WRAP saying he was being combative during an arrest at a convenience store The officers left Hill in the device when they dropped him at the jail Video from the jail shows deputies punching the WRAP-immobilized Hill in the head and back Hill died in a hospital and while the WRAP s exact role is unknown Hill s death was ruled a homicide by positional and mechanical asphyxia due to restraint with neck and torso compression Three of the deputies are now charged with his murder and five were removed from their jobs Also last year in Missouri prosecutors charged five jailers in the death of Othel Moore Jr who according to an autopsy asphyxiated in the WRAP Jailhouse footage presented Moore who d also been sprayed with tear gas and placed in a spit mask covering his face repeatedly advised officers he couldn t breathe AP identified plenty of of the other non-ICE cases involving the WRAP during an examination into deaths after police subdued people with common tactics that unlike guns are meant to stop someone without killing them While Hammond insists the WRAP has never been determined as the cause of death when used properly the AP identified times in which the WRAP was used by police or correctional officers in a episode in which someone died In of those cases the official autopsy determined that restraint played various role in the death It was often impossible to determine the exact role the WRAP may have played as deaths often involved the use of other potentially dangerous force on people who in several cases were high on methamphetamine The WRAP first appeared in law enforcement in the late s presented as an alternative to tying a subject s hands and feet together in a practice known as hog-tying It first located widespread use in California jails and in the current era is used by more than departments and facilities around the country according to the manufacturer which says it has sold more than devices Numerous of these cases have drawn little media attention such as the circumstance of Alberto Pena who was jailed on a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge after getting drunk and damaging the walls and doors at his parents home outside Rio Grande City Texas The -year-old became erratic on the way to the Starr County Jail beating his own head against the inside of the patrol unit and later the wall of his cell Deputies placed Pena in the WRAP for more than two hours where he repeatedly cried out for help and complained he could not breathe But he was left unattended in the device for considerable periods of time court records show and no diagnostic attention was provided for his self-inflicted head injuries An autopsy ruled Pena s death accidental but a forensic pathologist hired by the family attributed Pena s death in part to the WRAP s prolonged restraint and stated it could have been averted with proper health care The WRAP should have never been used in this situation It was a therapeutic urgency and he should have been taken to the hospital disclosed Natasha Powers-Marakis a former police officer and use of force expert who reviewed the event on behalf of Pena s family as part of their wrongful death lawsuit against the county and officers who placed him in the device The arresting officers had been stated Pena suffered from bipolar disorder The Starr County Sheriff s Office has denied wrongdoing and maintained Pena did not require clinical care Robert Drinkard an attorney for the county recounted AP the use of the WRAP was neither improper nor caused Mr Pena s tragic death He added that each deputy involved in placing Pena in the WRAP had been trained in its application A federal judge lately dismissed the Pena family s lawsuit ruling the deputies were shielded from liability Carrying me like a corpse In the context of an ICE deportation flight the use of restraints like the WRAP can be justified Hammond the manufacturer s CEO argues ICE officers have to ensure that they secure anyone who could pose a fight peril on a long flight he announced Given the high stakes of a violent confrontation on an airplane Hammond believes cases like those described to the AP can warrant the WRAP s use even if the person is already in chains However properly trained agents are supposed to loosen the straps and allow enough movement so the subject can eat and drink as well as use the bathroom With the WRAP when it is used properly it s a shorter fight which is good for everybody It prioritizes breathing which is good for everybody And you have no more fight and can provide diagnostic care or mental vitality care or de-escalation efforts Hammond reported Those placed in one of Hammond s restraint suits however recount the experience as traumatic One of these people was first put into five-point shackles when he became dizzy and tripped while ascending the stairs to board the ICE flight to Cameroon in November The officer mistook his stumbling as resistance he stated Forthwith camouflage-clad ICE officers hastily pushed him to the tarmac and onto a WRAP device he disclosed Soon he felt the straps cinching around his legs and upper body They bundled me like a log of wood from all the sides and they were just carrying me like a corpse he commented Another man interviewed by the AP noted ICE officers put him in the WRAP after he initially resisted efforts to move him onto a deportation flight in Alexandria Louisiana in He d fled political violence and persecution in his native Cameroon and was afraid to go back He stated officers took him out of his cell in front of the other detainees and put him in the WRAP leaving him for hours in view of the others as a warning to them not to speak up I reported him I can t breathe the man commented He responded I don t care I m doing my job Dearen and Pineda informed from Los Angeles and Mustian published from New York AP journalists Ope Adetayo in Abuja Ghana Obed Lamy in Indianapolis and Ryan J Foley in Iowa City Iowa contributed to this summary Dan Lawton also contributed