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WASHINGTON — Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to buy thousands of special gloves that would allow agents to administer electronic shocks — a tactic the gloves’ manufacturer describes as a nonlethal “soft empty hand” for controlling people.
But videos posted by the manufacturer, Compliant Technologies of Richmond, Ky., show that the effects of the gloves are anything but soft.
In one video, the CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E — an acronym for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — easily brings a strapping man in military fatigues down to his knees in less than a second.
The glove caused another man’s leg muscles to spasm, although the shock, applied on his forearm, was advertised as being strictly localized.
The suspension was ordered after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after another officer shot and killed a motorist in Houston.
The videos were taken at defensive weapon exhibitions all across the U.S. Frequently, the volunteers who get zapped yelp as they collapse limply down on a soft mat.
“That sucked! That was terrible,” one man said after going through a demonstration.
“It does suck. But, it sucks a lot less than other options,” the caption from Compliant Technologies reads.
Civil rights organizations say they fear that ICE agents — who have been widely criticized for harsh tactics and fatal shootings — are being given yet another weapon for their already-packed arsenal to intimidate the public.
“There is a trust in law enforcement with extreme power over human life, because you believe the people you’re entrusting are trained and they’re careful,” said Naureen Shah, director of policy and government affairs in immigration with the American Civil Liberties Union. “ICE has broken that trust with the public … the mission is simply to scare.”
According to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security, there is a plan to purchase $10 million to $20 million worth of shock gloves. The plan was first reported by the Associated Press.
John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director under the Obama administration, questioned the wisdom of equipping agents with the shock glove because the agency has seen a decline in training and oversight during the second Trump administration. (The administration has often said training of agents has not declined.)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving to equip officers with body cameras in the next two months, but the public should not expect to see footage of every critical incident.
