US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend between $10 million and $20 million to purchase gloves capable of delivering electric shocks to detainees, according to a notice published by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday.
The devices, known as the G.L.O.V.E., which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky, and are intended to gain compliance from combative individuals, according to CBS News.
The gloves would be delivered by 31 March 2027, according to the contract previewed on DHS’s portal for forecasting contract opportunities, and the solicitation for a no-bid contract could be published as early as Friday.
How Do The Shock Gloves Actually Work?
A spokesperson for Compliant Technology explained that the device uses positives and negatives on the hand pad to trigger a sensory response on the skin upon contact, emitting up to 380 volts of charge that will not penetrate clothing and does not affect pacemakers or defibrillators.
The manufacturer describes the product as a device used to quickly distract with rapid, uncomfortable electrical pulses when applied to a person’s skin, and says the gloves are designed to stop detainees from performing coordinated muscle movement by causing pain through direct skin contact, according to Axios.
Users of the device are required to undergo certification training every two years, per the manufacturer’s user manual.
Why Has The Purchase Alarmed Civil Rights Groups?
Advocacy organisations have raised sharp concerns about how easily the devices could be deployed without oversight. Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Associated Press that the public should have no confidence ICE officers would use the devices appropriately, questioning why they would be necessary for civil immigration enforcement given that those being shocked might have no advance warning.
“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” Borchetta reporedly said, adding that introducing gloves so easily used to deliver terrible pain in encounters was “a recipe for harm to the public.”
What Has The Government Said In Defence Of The Devices?
US Department of Homeland Security officials have defended the purchase as part of routine equipment planning rather than an expansion of force. A DHS spokesperson told CBS News in a statement, “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 same spokesperson told NewsNation that “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,” adding that officers are “highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training.”
How Does This Fit Into Wider Concerns Over ICE’s Use Of Force?
The proposed purchase arrives amid mounting scrutiny of how immigration agents have handled recent enforcement operations. One report found that ICE officers engaged in a misuse of force against individuals at immigration protests 412 times within the span of a year, a figure that has fed broader criticism of the agency’s tactics under US President Donald Trump’s intensified mass arrest and deportation drive.
Supporters of the technology note that shock gloves have generally been used in specific jail and transport situations by some police departments and correctional facilities in recent years, rather than deployed broadly during street-level patrols.
What Remains Unclear About The Rollout?
Several key details about the planned deployment have not yet been made public. It remains unclear how many gloves the department intends to purchase, the exact cost per unit, or precisely when officers would begin using them in the field. With the contract solicitation expected imminently and delivery scheduled over the following months, the plan is likely to face continued scrutiny from civil liberties groups and lawmakers as ICE’s broader enforcement posture remains a flashpoint in the national immigration debate.
