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Direct-contact electric shock weapons deliver an electric shock through direct contact between electrodes or conductive strips and the target individual. Types of direct-contact electric shock weapons include:
Stun shields – A regular shield design with one or more conductive strips on the front
Stun batons and stun guns – Straight, telescopic (stun baton), or curved (stun gun) design with two or four electrodes on the tip or conductive strips along the length of the baton.
Stun gloves – Worn by a security official, delivers an electric shock once touched to the target individual.
Due to their design and purpose, direct-contact electric shock weapons are inherently abusive equipment that facilitate torture, including through application of multiple or continuous electric shocks, as well as electric shocks to vulnerable areas of the body such as the head, neck, and genitals. These weapons carry an unacceptable risk of arbitrary force and use fulfils no legitimate law enforcement purpose therefore they should not be manufactured, traded, or used by law enforcement.
Equipped with a unique electric shock system (patented), it discharges a current of up to 2.5mA for 2 seconds. It can incapacitate an opponent without causing damage that results in lasting effects or cardiac arrest by inducing muscle contractions.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Wednesday notice that outlined plans to provide Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with gloves that will deliver painful electric shocks.
The agency is planning to spend up to $20 million on the new devices known as a Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter or G.L.O.V.E. that could be used by officers in the field as they are conducting immigration operations.
“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. 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 DHS spokesperson told NewsNation.
“Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training,” the spokesperson added.
Prison and jail staffers have begun to implement the tools behind bars to “de-escalate” chaotic incidents.
The device works similar to a taser but does not jump as high in voltage, according to KFOR.
A spokesperson for Compliant Technology, the company that makes the electric shock gloves, told reporters the device uses positives and negatives on the hand pad to trigger a sensory response on the skin upon contact.
It does not impact pace makers or defibrillators and emits up to 380 volts of a charge upon skin contact, which won’t penetrate clothes.
Still, some question if ICE officers should be given another painful weapon to use in the field after one report found that officers engaged in a misuse of force against individuals at immigration protests 412 times within the span of a year.
“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Associated Press.
“Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public,” Borchetta added.
However, others argue that the device could aid immigration officers at a disadvantage in the field.
“It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting. If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool…,” John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, told AP.
“For smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers, I think it has a great advantage,” Peters added, citing officers ability to use the devices to quickly increase an individual’s compliance.
According to the contract published by DHS, the electric shock gloves could be distributed as soon as March of 2027.
The Trump administration could soon equip federal immigration agents with gloves capable of delivering electric shocks during physical confrontations, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) procurement notice.
The devices—known as the G.L.O.V.E., or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter—are manufactured by Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies LLC, and are marketed as a tool to help officers gain control of resistant individuals during close-range encounters.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to spend up to $20 million on thousands of the devices for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) personnel, with deliveries expected by March 2027.
"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 Newsweek. "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."
"Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training."
The plan drew concern Wednesday, amid the agency already having faced scrutiny around its agents' use of force over the past year.
"My biggest concern is transparency," Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former USCIS and ICE official told Newsweek. "Before deploying these, ICE should release its training materials and any data on the risks associated with use, so the public and Congress can actually evaluate what's being adopted and how."
What Is the G.L.O.V. E.?
Compliant Technologies describes the G.L.O.V.E. as a wearable "conductive distraction and de-escalation device," that functions as a standard patrol glove until activated. The company says the device is intended for law enforcement, corrections, security, military and emergency medical personnel.
Officers can activate the device using a switch located on the glove. It can then deliver an electrical stimulus to an individual's skin, which is intended to distract or interrupt muscle movement and gain compliance.
The company says the device typically achieves compliance within seconds and leaves no lasting marks.
It adds that no more than two gloves should be applied at one time, and generally for no longer than 15 seconds unless circumstances require additional force to gain control.
The device must make direct skin contact and is not effective through clothing or hair.
Manufacturer's Warnings
The manufacturer says the gloves should not be used as punishment or in response to verbal noncompliance alone.
It also warns officers against using them on certain higher-risk individuals, including children, pregnant women, the elderly and disabled people.
How Could ICE Use Them?
DHS has not publicly detailed how ICE officers will operationally deploy the gloves. The procurement notice identifies HSI and ERO, two main components of ICE personnel, as the intended users, but it does not specify particular enforcement scenarios.
John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, told The Associated Press (AP) he could envision officers using the gloves during arrests, removals from vehicles, residential operations and inside detention facilities when individuals resist officers' commands.
Trickler-McNulty said she was skeptical about how much sense the gloves would make for ICE field enforcement efforts.
"They're largely duplicative of the drive-stun mode already available on the Tasers ICE carries," she told Newsweek. "And because the glove looks like an ordinary glove, a person won't know it's carrying a current, which means it's more likely to escalate an encounter than de-escalate one, since the individual has no way to anticipate or comply.
"There's also a real tactical downside that officers have mentioned to me, that while wearing the glove, you can't readily use your firearm or another less-lethal option, which can put the officer in a worse position."
Have the Gloves Been Used Before?
Yes. While ICE's proposed purchase appears poised to become the largest acquisition of the technology, the devices have already been used by some law enforcement and correctional agencies. AP reported that the gloves have been deployed in recent years by certain jails and police departments.
Compliant Technologies says that since the CD3 technology used in the gloves was introduced in December 2018, there have been "no documented injuries resulting from the direct use" of the devices. The company states that its products are designed to be non-lethal and noninjurious and that they do not leave burns, marks or scars.
Civil liberties advocates have nevertheless raised concerns about the planned ICE deployment. Jenn Rolnick Borchetta of the American Civil Liberties Union told AP that the public should have little confidence that ICE officers would consistently use the devices appropriately.
Compliant Technologies founder and CEO Jeff Niklaus is a retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Four who served a 20-year military career that included deployments supporting operations in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to his company biography. After retiring from military service in 2006, he worked as a contractor for the U.S. Department of State's poppy eradication program in Afghanistan and later became an EMS helicopter pilot in Kentucky.
How Does the G.L.O.V.E. Compare to a Taser?
Unlike a Taser, which can be fired from a distance, the G.L.O.V.E. is intended for hands-on encounters. Compliant Technologies markets it as a "conductive distraction and de-escalation device." Its user manual says the device can generate up to 380 volts. Modern TASER devices are commonly described as producing up to 50,000 volts in an open circuit, though the voltage can drop to about 2,000 volts under load.
Questions That Remain
Several key questions remain unanswered, including how many gloves ICE intends to purchase, how officers will be trained to use them, what reporting requirements would accompany deployments and whether the agency plans to issue additional guidance beyond the manufacturer's recommendations.
Fatal Encounters With ICE Agents
The projected procurement of the gloves comes at a time when ICE has faced increased scrutiny, particularly over a series of fatal encounters involving federal immigration agents during the Trump administration's immigration enforcement campaign. Last month, agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican construction worker, during an attempted vehicle stop in Houston, and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian man, during an operation in Biddeford, Maine.
In both cases, DHS said agents opened fire after the men used or attempted to use their vehicles as weapons, a characterization disputed by relatives, witnesses and advocates. The shootings followed earlier incidents that have also drawn attention, including the deaths of Minneapolis residents Alex Pretti and Renee Good earlier this year and the March 2025 fatal shooting of 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez by a Homeland Security Investigations agent on South Padre Island, Texas.
"Under President Donald Trump and Secretary Mullin, ICE is targeting the worst of the worst," the ICE spokesperson told Newsweek. "Since Day One, ICE law enforcement has been delivering on President Donald Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists."
"Nearly 70 percent of ICE arrests are of dangerous illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. While ICE law enforcement works to remove these public safety threats from American communities, they’re also facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults, a 3,300 percent increase in vehicle attacks, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats," the spokesperson said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The devices are known as the G.L.O.V.E., which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.
DHS said Tuesday that it was working on a response to an Associated Press inquiry and offered no immediate comment. Jeff Niklaus, the founder and CEO of Compliant Technologies, wrote in an email, “Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject.”
The notice said the solicitation for a no-bid contract could be published as early as Friday.
Civil rights advocates expressed alarm at the plan, saying ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force with little oversight or accountability while enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Compliant Technologies says the devices function as a normal pair of patrol gloves until officers press a switch to activate their electrical mode. The gloves must be applied directly to someone’s skin to deliver a pain stimulus that typically helps an officer gain compliance within seconds, according to the company.
“It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting,” said John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, who is studying how the device has been used. “If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool.”
Peters said he believed ICE’s planned purchase would likely be the largest from the company to date. He said he could envision ICE officers using the gloves to help remove uncooperative subjects from cars and houses and in and out of detention facilities.
“For smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers, I think it has a great advantage” because it can produce faster takedowns and shorten confrontations, he said.
The manufacturer warns the device should not be used as punishment, against people merely exhibiting “verbal defiance or belligerence” or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women or elderly or disabled people.
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the public should have no confidence that ICE officers will use the devices appropriately. She questioned why the devices would be necessary for civil immigration enforcement and noted those getting shocked might have no advance warning.
“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” she said. “Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”
Supporters say the devices are generally used in specific jail and transport situations, rather than broadly to patrol on the streets. They have been used to subdue violent suspects who are refusing to get into squad cars and inmates who are harming themselves and threatening officers, according to Compliant Technologies.
Peters said he expected the devices to be misused by a small number of employees, as with other policing technologies, but he said they are unlikely to cause injuries. He said it would be important for ICE to have robust policies and training in place.
To use the device, officers must complete a course and be recertified every two years, the manufacturer says.
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