ICE Plans $20 Million Rollout of Electric Shock Gloves for Agents

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will soon receive new gear designed to deliver powerful electric shocks to anyone resisting arrest. These gloves, officially named the GLOVE or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, look like standard patrol gloves until an officer presses a button. That action activates a device meant to cause immediate pain and stop a person from moving within seconds. The shock requires direct skin contact to work, delivering up to 380 volts of electricity. This is roughly three times the charge found in a typical US wall outlet.

The rollout could cost as much as $20 million or about £14.8 million. Such a price tag suggests ICE plans to equip most, if not all, of its field agents with these tools. The purchase comes after intense criticism regarding aggressive tactics used by the agency to apprehend people. Democratic officials and civil rights advocates have already labeled the plan as cruel and unnecessary. New York Attorney General Letitia James voiced her outrage at a news conference on Wednesday. She warned that ICE officers misusing the gloves in her state could face criminal charges or civil lawsuits.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, issued a statement without specifically naming the product or explaining its selection. They said they are constantly assessing officer needs to ensure safe arrests and removals. Every decision is reviewed against law enforcement policies and standards according to their text. While the devices are marketed as nonlethal and safe for the heart, legal challenges suggest otherwise. A pending lawsuit alleges a 43-year-old man died in 2024 after being shocked twenty-seven times with these gloves and thirteen more times by a Taser at a jail in Richmond, Kentucky.

An internal investigation revealed that two of the glove shocks lasted forty-five and ninety-nine seconds respectively. That duration far exceeds the manufacturer's recommended fifteen-second limit. The Madison County Detention Center found such actions inflicted unnecessary pain and raised serious health risks. An Associated Press review uncovered other lawsuits involving injuries from the gloves. One case involved a man with heart problems who was shocked at a Las Vegas trade show. Another defendant claimed he was laughed at after being unnecessarily shocked in court. The devices were first demonstrated at the Oklahoma County Detention Centre in March 2023. They have been used by some local police departments and prisons in recent years.

Two cases have officially been dismissed. Yet several Democrats in Congress, including Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Maxwell Frost and Delia Ramirez, spoke out on social media to say ICE did not need another weapon. 'This won't make anyone safer and in fact just gives ICE another dangerous tool to target citizens and immigrants alike,' Ms Jayapal wrote on X.

The manufacturer warns the devices should not be used against some populations that ICE agents routinely encounter: 'the elderly, small children, pregnant women and the severely handicapped'. The device's user manual also warns it should not be used in response to verbal defiance, or for punishment, torture or horseplay. 'It's too easy for this to get misused against a population that doesn't pose a threat,' former ICE acting director John Sandweg said Wednesday in an interview on MSNBC NOW.

The maker of the Taser recently phased out its drive-stun feature, a similar pain compliance tool that had been misused by some officers. Michael Mannheimer, a law professor at Northern Kentucky University who has written about police use-of-force and issues in federal law enforcement operations, agreed the gloves raised concerns about officers using disproportionate force. 'One concern I would have is if ICE agents have this at their immediate disposal, will they use it more than they should? Will they jump over lesser force that could be appropriate and successful to attain compliance and instead use this first?' he said.

The notice published in a DHS database indicated the solicitation for a no-bid contract to purchase the gloves could be released as early as Friday, and the contract would last through March 31, 2027. The founder of Compliant Technologies LLC, which manufactures the gloves, declined comment.