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Shock gloves for ICE
The Department of Homeland Security plans to equip Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with gloves that emit electric shocks to use on people who are not cooperating in the field, according to an agency notice.
“The agency could spend as much as $20 million on the gloves”
NPR said the agency could spend as much as $20 million on the gloves made by Compliant Technologies, a veteran-owned company based in Kentucky, and described the device as the G.L.O.V. E., which delivers an electric shock when a small button on the wrist is activated and the glove touches skin.
The New York Times reported that the Homeland Security Department planned to purchase the “CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E.,” and said the contract could be worth up to $20 million with purchase completion by the end of March.
Time Magazine reported DHS described the gloves in the notice as a “conductive distraction and de-escalation device,” and said the department would spend up to $20 million to purchase Generated Low Output Voltage Emitters, or G.L.O.V.Es, by the end of March 2027.
Critics warn of abuse
Former ICE officials and civil-rights advocates questioned the plan, with Time Magazine quoting John Sandweg saying the idea of using the gloves against a non-criminal immigrant in a secure environment is “alarming.”
Time Magazine also quoted Sandweg warning of “a high potential for abuse” due to rapid hiring of new immigration officers who he said are not receiving sufficient training.
NPR quoted ACLU director of policy and government affairs for immigration Naureen Shah saying, “My immediate reaction was, why would you give this kind of novel dangerous technology that’s hard to train people on to agency personnel who have a track record of abuse and even cruelty?”
The New York Times reported that Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, the deputy project director on policing for the A.C.L.U., said, “Giving ICE agents, who have been reckless with their use of force over the last year, gloves that can deliver electric shocks is terrifying.”
Training, oversight, and timeline
The DHS notice described the gloves as a tool for “distraction and de-escalation,” and Al Jazeera reported that the user manual states the gloves can deliver a maximum of 380 volts and “inhibits/distracts the subject from performing coordinated muscle movement.”
“a maximum of 380 volts”
Al Jazeera said the DHS estimated it will invest between $10m and $20m in such gloves by the end of March 2027, and specified that ICE has a requirement to make the purchase and distribute the gloves to agents within Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations.
NPR reported that Compliant Technologies declined to comment, and it described the company’s website claim that the glove provides a way to “de-escalate tense situations quickly and effectively.”
NPR also quoted Kenneth Corey, who said, “I've had it used on me. It hurt,” and described how “Somebody simply grabbed my wrist while wearing the glove. I'm a big guy. I'm 6'3
about 250 pounds. It made my knees buckle.”
