The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to spend up to $20 million on electric shock gloves for its officers, according to a notice published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday. The purchase has drawn sharp criticism from civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which cited ICE's history of using force during immigration operations.
Details of the GLOVE Device
The gloves, known as the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (GLOVE), are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC. They can deliver up to 380 volts of electricity—roughly three times the charge produced by a standard US power outlet. Officers activate the devices by pressing a button, and they can release up to 30 pulses per second. Each pair contains a built-in microprocessor that logs every activation, according to the BBC.
Compliant Technologies' user manual states that the gloves must make contact with a subject's skin but will function through thin, wet clothing. The manual recommends that a second officer be present to restrain a subject during use and advises against deploying the device on elderly people, small children, pregnant women, and those described as "severely handicapped." Officers are required to undergo training and recertification every two years.
ICE's Intended Use of the Gloves
The DHS said the gloves would be issued to officers in two units: Homeland Security Investigations, which focuses on transnational criminal networks, and Enforcement and Removal Operations, which handles the arrest, detention, and deportation of people who violate US immigration laws. A no-bid purchase contract could be made public as early as Friday, the DHS said.
"ICE is constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country," the DHS said in a statement. "Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilises is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards." Compliant Technologies told the BBC it was unable to comment on the planned sale.
ACLU Raises Concerns Over Force
The ACLU condemned the planned acquisition. Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, the organisation's deputy director on policing, pointed to a pattern of force that has already resulted in deaths during immigration enforcement operations. Recent incidents include the fatal shooting of Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and the killing of Colombian national Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero during an enforcement operation in Maine.
"ICE spent the last year showing this country that they are willing to disregard the law and are too quick to use force, with devastating and at times fatal consequences for citizens and noncitizens alike," Borchetta said. "Giving immigration agents a concealed means of delivering terrible pain is a recipe for more harm to the public and less accountability," she added. ICE has been under sustained pressure to meet daily arrest targets as part of President Donald Trump's broad deportation agenda.
In a related development, the United States resumed deportation flights to Venezuela, sending back 147 migrants on Monday. The plane departed from Miami and landed at General José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport in Barcelona, Anzoátegui state, marking the first such operation since two powerful earthquakes killed more than 6,000 people in late June.
