A Practice of Abjectification: The Use of Force in ICE Detention between 2008-2025

• In Event: Latinx Immigrant Detention, Deportation, and the Carceral State

Abstract

Utilizing over 1500 Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) inspection reports between 2008 and 2025, I examine how ICE formally discusses the ongoing reports of violence and coercive practices inside ICE facilities. This paper focuses on how these accounts of violence are normalized and rationalized as justified acts within carceral spaces. However, the use of force against detainees, highlighted in the Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) reports about procedural breaches, is common and indicative of serious systemic issues. I label this a practice of objectification, resulting in poor outcomes for deportees and while similarly detaching migrants’ humanity from ICE’s official record. Findings show that alternative de-escalation measures, missing video footage from significant events, and omitted documentation linking detainee injuries to ICE facility staff remain the most powerful tools of ICE bureaucracy. I argue that violence indicated in these inspection reports showcase the power of ICE’s bureaucracy to execute symbolic oversight rather than adopt effective measures of change. Further, ICE detention will only grow more violent as the number of detainees in ICE custody grows across the U.S.

Author

• Beatriz Aldana Marquez, University of Connecticut