DHS seeks to purchase electric shock gloves for ICE officers
The Department of Homeland Security is looking to purchase electric shock gloves for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the field, according to documents DHS submitted earlier this week.
DHS submitted paperwork on Monday to move ahead with purchasing the gloves. It's seeking up to $20 million to purchase G.L.O.V.E. -- Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter -- which are described in the documents as a "Conductive Distraction and De-escalation Device."
The gloves give an electric shock similar to a Taser, according to posts on the company's social media sites. Sources have told ABC News that the gloves are another tool in the immigration officers' toolbox in conducting immigration arrests.
"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," a DHS spokesperson told ABC News when asked about the gloves. "Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards."
A spokesperson said that ICE officers are "highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training."
Meanwhile, the ACLU said in a statement that "giving immigration agents a concealed means of delivering terrible pain is a recipe for more harm to the public and less accountability."
Compliant Technologies, the company that makes the gloves, said it was not able to comment on the DHS purchase at this time.
The company's online user manual says the gloves can be turned on with the push of a button and in order to work they "must come in contact with the subject's skin" and that "the device is not effective through clothing or hair and can be degraded on individuals and animals that are extremely hairy."
The proposal comes as the agency plans to deploy body-worn cameras to all agents by the end of August.
David Venturella, ICE's acting director, said the agency is committed to "transparency and accountability" in a statement released over the weekend.
The agency has come under scrutiny after agents in two recent fatal shootings were not wearing body-worn cameras -- despite the large influx of money the agency received as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
ICE would be the first federal agency to use this relatively new technology. The gloves have been used by some jails and police departments.
ABC News' Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.
