ICE wants to purchase gloves that deliver electric shocks to subdue potential undocumented individuals
These devices, known as G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, or Electric Current Transmitting Gloves), are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky, and are already in use in some prisons and police departments in the United States.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to purchase thousands of these gloves for up to $20 million.
The gloves are activated by pressing a button and deliver an electric current of 210 V to 380 V (volts) upon direct contact with the skin. According to the manufacturer, the electric current causes a momentary sharp pain to subdue a person without leaving serious physical marks. However, experts warn of risks of muscle spasms, burns, and possible cardiac complications in vulnerable individuals.
Human rights organizations are warning about the physical impact and severe harm that ICE’s gloves can cause to the health of people who receive the electric shock.
According to the company, the gloves must make direct contact with the person’s skin to deliver a painful stimulus that generally helps the officer get the person to comply within seconds.
The user guide for these gloves states that they should not be used in response to verbal defiance or as a form of punishment. The manufacturer does not recommend their use on the elderly, children, pregnant women, or people with severe disabilities.
At the same time, the company notes that users must complete a training course before using them.
Direct contact of an electric current with the skin and muscle tissue generates immediate, intense reactions in the human body. When this type of technology is activated with an electric shock of up to 380 V (volts), the effects can be highly dangerous and fatal.
Among many other effects, an electric current applied to the human body can disrupt the heart’s normal rhythm and cause it to stop pumping blood effectively, leading to cardiac arrest and death within a few minutes if immediate medical attention is not provided.
Electricity can also paralyze the chest muscles and the nerve centers responsible for breathing, meaning respiratory arrest may occur. An electric shock of this intensity could cause seizures and severely disrupt the central nervous system—to name just a few of the many harmful effects on the human body.
The news about the possible acquisition of the gloves sparked alarm among various civil rights advocacy groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“ICE has spent the last year showing this country that it is too quick to use force. Now they’ll be able to deliver electric shocks with the push of a button, perhaps without anyone else seeing them do it,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director of the ACLU’s police practices project.
“Equipping officers with gloves that can so easily be used to inflict terrible pain is a surefire way to harm the public,” she added.
Several Democratic members of Congress also questioned the decision to purchase these gloves. - “$20 million in taxpayer money for electric-shock gloves? That’s appalling.”, wrote Senator Jacky Rose, Democrat of Nevada, in a post on the social media network X.
"This lawless agency uses cruel tactics like these and has shown no desire to de-escalate the situation, and the Trump administration refuses to stop it. I will continue to oppose granting more funds to ICE until it is held accountable," she noted.
Just 10 years ago, the annual budget of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) was less than $6 billion, notably lower than that of other Department of Homeland Security agencies. However, ICE's budget has skyrocketed during President Trump's second term, becoming the most funded US law enforcement agency, with $85 billion at its disposal today.
The windfall is thanks to the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, enacted last July. After hovering around the $10 billion mark for years, ICE's budget suddenly benefited from a meteoric spike.
This police agency ICE, whose agents go through the streets of the United States with their faces covered, is more similar to the police that maintained the repressive regimes of the Latin American dictatorships, State terrorism, of the 1960s and 1970s. None of the ICE police officers were brought to trial for the violent deaths of Renee Nicole Good (USA), Alex Petti (USA), Lorenzo Salgado (Mexico), Sebastián Durán Guerrero (Colombia), Geraldo Lunas Campos (Cuba); Parady La (Cambodia), Luis Gustavo Nuñez Cáceres (Nicaragua), and many more.
According to information from ICE, cited by the Statistics Center Statista.com, deaths in custody of the immigration agency reached their highest level in 2025 in more than 20 years. Such data indicates that at least 30 non-U.S. citizens died under the control of the federal service last year.