The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is to spend $16.7m on 6,000 pairs of electric-shock gloves. A notice on a federal database published on Thursday showed that the much-maligned agency, which has been the face of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, has agreed a no-bid contract with Kentucky-based firm Compliant Technologies for the supply of the gloves, alongside support equipment and services, over the next six months. ICE stated in its procurement notice that the “de-escalation devices” will be used when dealing with detainees and protesters.
Officers will deploy the equipment in “high-tension environments”, including during arrests, while transporting combative detainees, and when managing civil disturbances outside detention facilities, the agency said. ICE added that the gloves offer an alternative to “more severe force” such as firearms, noting they would be used under “approved policy, training, and accountability standards”. The agency has concluded the contract despite mounting opposition from civil rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who contend officers cannot be trusted to use the technology responsibly.
Critics note that ICE officers already face intense criticism over their use of force with little oversight or accountability while enforcing Trump’s immigration policies. The American Civil Liberties Union said giving immigration agents “a concealed means of delivering terrible pain is a recipe for more harm to the public and less accountability”. Fatal shootings by ICE agents of two US citizens in Minnesota earlier this year spurred protests and widespread criticism.
More than 50 people have died in ICE custody nationwide since Trump took office. The procurement notice was posted hours after a group of US senators urged the agency to scrap the purchase in a letter to its acting director. The lawmakers warned the technology carries “substantial risks” during civil arrests if deployed without clear limits, proper training, and independent oversight.
They called on ICE to publicly disclose how officers will be trained and how the use of the gloves will be documented and internally reviewed. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, dismissed the criticism.
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