ICE plans to give officers gloves that deliver painful electric shocks

The Associated Press reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend between $10 million and $20 million to equip officers with gloves that can deliver a painful electric shock when pressed against bare skin. The devices, known as G.L.O.V.E., work as ordinary patrol gloves until an officer activates their electrical mode, and the size of the planned purchase suggests they could be issued to most or all of the agency's officers.

The plan, revealed in a notice published Monday, drew immediate criticism from Democratic officials and civil-rights advocates, who called it unnecessary and cruel. The manufacturer's own guidance warns against using the gloves on elderly people, small children, pregnant women and people with severe disabilities, and a pending lawsuit alleges that a man in a Kentucky jail died in 2024 after being shocked repeatedly with similar gloves.

What to watch now is whether ICE moves forward with the purchase, how the criticism from state and local officials shapes the rollout, and what safeguards might accompany a device designed to cause pain on contact with skin.