ICE 'to spend up to $20 million' on arming agents with 'taser-style' gloves capable of delivering electric shocks
The gloves, manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC, have on occasion been used by select jails and police departments.
Plans are afoot to equip ICE agents with 'taser-style' gloves capable of delivering electric shocks as part of a planned $20million rollout - a move that has left some civil rights advocates alarmed.
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The devices, dubbed the G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky.
Under new proposals first reported by AP, the contracts could see Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers handed the specially designed systems, which contain a switch allowing officers to activate 'electrical mode'.
Described as “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices”, the gloves awarded as part of a government contract are set to cost up to $20 million (£14.8m).
Unlike a taser, which uses sharp barbs embedded in the skin to form a complete circuit before delivering a shock of up to 50,000 volts, the new gloves do not embed themselves under the skin.
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The DHS said 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."
According to the manufacturer, the gloves have already been used in some jails around the US and utilised by several police departments.
Described as aiding the process of bringing non-compliant detainees into custody, Lt Butch Gallion, an administrator at Hawkins County jail in Tennessee, says the devices are a "pain deterrent".
"We may or may not deploy them. It just depends on how they act. When you push the button to turn them on there's a light that displays.
"The inmates understand that light, and often just seeing the light brings compliance," he says.
Civil rights activists have now insisted ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force, and that arming them with another weapon would only increase issues surrounding oversight or accountability.
It marks the latest step in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
It comes a matter of weeks after Donald Trump reversed a temporary suspension on ICE traffic stops, after immigration agents fatally shot two drivers in Texas and Maine within days of each other.
Federal immigration agents were allowed to resume tactical arrests just a day after senior officials paused the practice to "make sure ICE agents are safe and doing the right thing."