Horror as US ICE plans to equip agents with £15m 'electric shock gloves' in 'cruel' anti-protester escalation

Horror as US ICE plans to equip agents with £15m 'electric shock gloves' in 'cruel' anti-protester escalation Experts have questioned whether agents responsible for a violent clampdown on immigrants on the US would use the G.L.O.V.E devices for reasonable law enforcement Anti-ICE protesters in the US could soon encounter immigration officers wielding "cruel" electric shock mittens capable of dealing painful jolts, according to a £15million ($20m) plan being pursued by the controversial agency. Democratic officials in the US have slammed the Trump administration after it was revealed the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to provide officers employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement specialised "conductive distraction and de-escalation devices". They have called the devices, also known as the G.L.O.V.E, unnecessary and cruel. The plans, outlined in a notice published on Monday, would see officials handed yet another tool in a large arsenal just as the agency comes under scrutiny for dozens of custodial deaths. The notice, according to the Associated Press, outlined costs of between $10m and $20m (£7.4m to £14.8m) to outfit officers and agents with the new technology. The gloves are designed to appear and function as typical patrol gloves, until officers press a button that activates an electrical mode. When applied to the bare skin of a target, it administers a painful electric shock in what ICE says is a bid to gain compliance from protesters. The tools are said to be less dangerous than stun guns and hey do not leave burn or contact marks. The size of the purchase suggests ICE plans to give the device to most or all of its officers. They have seen public used in the past, and have been rolled out to local police departments, and officials working at jails rather than in public enforcement. For ICE officers, they would become yet another tool for an agency which has increasingly favoured violence in its actions since Donald Trump was elected US president in 2025. A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) exploring more than 1,200 enforcement incidents across eight states in 2025 found that agents regularly used violence and threats of physical force in their raids. The purpose of the violence, the ACLU said, was to compel immediate obedience of their commands. The ICE custodial fatality rate reached a 22-year-high earlier this year, according to another report from the JAMA medical journal, which found 18 immigration detainee deaths by January 19. At least 17 more people have died while being held by the agency since then. ICE is funded by tens of billions of taxpayer cash from American citizens, who have also been caught in its activities. Two people, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Goode, both 37, were killed last year while present at otherwise peaceful anti-ICE protests. Plans to give officers the shock gloves has left Democrats incensed, among them Letitia James, the Attorney General for New York. She said the party was "outraged" in a news conference on Wednesday, where she warned that ICE officers who misuse the gloves in her state could face criminal and civil consequences. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, issued a statement that did not mention the product specifically or explain why it had been chosen. "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 statement said. "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." While the devices are marketed as nonlethal and safe for the heart, a pending lawsuit alleges a 43-year-old man died in 2024 after he was shocked 27 times with the gloves and 13 more times by a Taser at a jail in Richmond, Kentucky. An internal investigation found two of the glove shocks lasted 45 and 99 seconds apiece - far more than the manufacturer's recommended 15-second limit. "These actions not only inflicted unnecessary pain but also heightened the risk of serious health complications," the investigation by the Madison County Detention Center found, according to court documents. An Associated Press review found two other lawsuits alleging injuries from the gloves, including a man with heart problems who was shocked at a Las Vegas trade show and a defendant who said he was laughed at after he was unnecessarily shocked in court. Both cases have been dismissed. Several Democrats in Congress, including Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Maxwell Frost and Delia Ramirez, said on social media that ICE did not need another weapon. "This won't make anyone safer and in fact just gives ICE another dangerous tool to target citizens and immigrants alike," Jayapal wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. The manufacturer warns the devices should not be used against some populations that ICE agents routinely encounter: the elderly, small children, pregnant women and the severely handicapped. The device's user manual also warns it should not be used in response to verbal defiance, or for punishment, torture or horseplay. "It's too easy for this to get misused, against a population that doesn't pose a threat," former ICE acting director John Sandweg said Wednesday in an interview on MS NOW. The maker of the Taser recently phased out its drive-stun feature, a similar pain compliance tool that had been misused by some officers. Michael Mannheimer, a law professor at Northern Kentucky University who has written about police use-of-force and issues in federal law enforcement operations, agreed the gloves raised concerns about officers using disproportionate force. "One concern I would have is if ICE agents have this at their immediate disposal, will they use it more than they should? Will they jump over lesser force that could be appropriate and successful to attain compliance and instead use this first?" he said. The notice published in a DHS database indicated the solicitation for a no-bid contract to purchase the gloves could be released as early as Friday, and the contract would last through March 31, 2027. The founder of Compliant Technologies LLC, which manufactures the gloves, declined comment.