Since Markwayne Mullin took over the Department of Homeland Security in March, Immigration and Custom Enforcement has dialed back on the trolling. Gone are the videos and memes, posted regularly under the leadership of Mullin’s predecessor Kristi Noem, that mocked detainees for crying and celebrated ICE agents for being recklessly violent. There have been no more showy “invasions” of cities like Minneapolis or Los Angeles, as Mullin has aimed to draw less attention to ICE’s incompetent and legally dubious methods. His strategy has largely worked in getting the unpopular agency’s name out of the headlines.
But that doesn’t mean ICE has given up on fulfilling Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s cruel fantasies. The xenophobic Miller agenda is still being treated as the vanguard in White House efforts to will an authoritarian police state into being, circumventing both law and tradition to attack due process and inflict fear on the nation’s immigrant population. In early August, DHS posted a notice that they plan to buy $20 million worth of electrified shock gloves that are euphemistically described as “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices.” The gloves are truly Orwellian, cheered on by police because they inflict pain but leave “no burn marks or scars,” making it easier for law enforcement to hide the abuse and cruelty they inflict. Amnesty International opposes the use of these devices, arguing they are “readily misused for torture.”
