The federal immigration enforcement agency infamous for using excessive force is spending big on a new way to subdue detainees.
ICE will allocate up to $20 million on electrified gloves that can deliver shocks so painful they can subdue a person within seconds. While shock-delivering gloves that can bring anyone to their knees sound like fodder for a dystopian sci-fi novel, they’re actually already in use by law enforcement agencies and prisons around the country.
The Department of Homeland Security disclosed the contract for a “conductive distraction and de-escalation device” in a notice first reported by The Associated Press. The gloves are made by Kentucky-based vendor Compliant Technologies, which specializes in “non-lethal solutions” for law enforcement, corrections, security, and healthcare workers.
The device, a model known as the CTG-5 Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (GLOVE), will be distributed to agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the two primary enforcement divisions of ICE. The latter law enforcement wing of ICE is responsible for making arrests, executing deportations, and running detention centers—missions that have attracted widespread scrutiny during the second Trump administration.
While the GLOVE is marketed as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution” when used following the manufacturer’s guidelines, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an agency with a long leash and a reputation for applying dangerous levels of force. ICE faced a nationwide outcry over its aggressive policing tactics earlier this year after immigration agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two bystanders observing the federal surge of enforcement activity in Minnesota.
High-tech law enforcement
In its user manual, Compliant Technologies says that it doesn’t consider the gloves to be a weapon “due to the low electrical current deployed.” The glove can be activated within seconds by pressing a prominent button near the wrist. The electrical charge comes from contact pads on the palm, which can administer a shock to bare skin, but the current doesn’t travel through clothing or back to the officer wearing the device.
The company discourages officers from touching the head, throat, chest, and groin with the gloves and recommends applying the electrical shock for 15 seconds “per application.” An onboard battery is stored in the side of the glove and can be recharged via a USB port. A built-in microprocessor stores thousands of “activation events” locally, keeping a record of when the gloves were used and how long they were electrified for—useful data for law enforcement accountability.
The gloves work by overstimulating the sense of touch in the peripheral nervous system, a stimulus powerful enough to “distract the subject from performing coordinated muscle movement.” In demo videos at industry events, a rep for the company shows how a split-second shock from the glove sends willing volunteers to the ground instantly.
Compliant Technologies states that the gloves don’t pose a significant health risk when used as directed, though they should be avoided for subduing elderly or disabled people, small children, and pregnant women. In its tactical use-of-force guidelines, the company declares that the device “SHALL NOT be deployed” in response to “verbal defiance or belligerence,” as torture or as a punishment.
A safer alternative?
Like Taser guns, the shock gloves are sold to law enforcement agencies as a nonlethal alternative for subduing someone violently resisting arrest or posing a dangerous threat. Tasers, which work at substantially higher voltage, were linked to over 1,000 deaths between 2000 and 2017 but are still widely in use by law enforcement.
The shock gloves operate at a lower voltage than a Taser gun does, but concerns still exist that a law enforcement agency known for bucking laws and rejecting accountability could misuse the devices. In 2023, an inmate of a jail located near Louisville, Kentucky, filed a lawsuit alleging that a guard using the gloves shocked him for an extended period of time while he was already restrained in handcuffs and shackles.
“The last thing ICE needs is a new tool to inflict even more cruelty and pain on our community members,” the ACLU wrote on social media in response to news of the new ICE contract.
