THE shock gloves Immigration officials could soon use it to control detainees, and protesters worked so powerfully during a military exercise that participants felt intense pain, immediately stopped fighting and feared further exposure, according to a first-of-its-kind Army study.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaders were aware of the findings before signing a $16.7 million deal. contract to buy 6,000 pairs of impact gloves in August, according to records obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight and shared with The Associated Press.
The shocks had a profound impact on Army employees who played the role of prisoner combatants during the exercise, which took place at the Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas in October 2024. The participants, several of whom were large men, stopped resisting seconds after the officers applied shocks by touching their skin with gloves, and were left with “fatigue, pain and excessive apprehension of being electrocuted again ”, according to the study.
“After experiencing the effects of GLOVE…participants reported that simply seeing GLOVE was enough to make them want to comply,” the authors wrote.
Watchdog says gloves cause pain and raise safety concerns
In contract documents posted to a federal database in August, ICE called the gloves “distraction and de-escalation devices” that will be safer than other non-lethal options in subduing targets for arrest and deportation and protesters who create civil unrest. The agency argued that the rapid compliance caused by the gloves would provide greater safety for officers and prevent incidents from requiring potentially deadly force.
“ICE does not currently have an unarmed use of force capability to provide on the ground in the face of unprecedented levels of threats and violence against ICE officers and agents, to ensure they can de-escalate tense situations before they become violent,” the agency wrote in procurement documents.
But critics have warned that the gloves would give ICE another weapon to intimidate and brutalize people, even as the agency is criticized for excessive force that has left a trail of violence. death And injuries across the country. The gloves, they note, are easy to discharge, do not leave a mark and have not been widely used outside prisons. The manufacturer warns that they should not be used on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women, or people with disabilities.
“The military assessment in ICE’s own records shows that these gloves can cause ‘severe pain’ and compel compliance. This does not establish that they are safe,” said Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight. “Everyone should be alarmed that ICE is about to deploy a tool designed to inflict, at best, intense pain, without demonstrating that it is safe for the people who will be subjected to it.”
Brett Dickerson 
ICE released the study and other documents to American Oversight as part of the group’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the agency seeking records related to its use of force.
Study found impact gloves triggered ‘immediate’ compliance
The military prison study evaluated whether gloves could be used effectively to forcibly remove combative prisoners from their cells, to respond to disturbances in common areas, and to transport uncooperative inmates. Role-play staff performed several scenarios with and without gloves to test their impact, including violent encounters in which inmates had to fight as hard as they could.
The study found that the devices “increased the efficiency” of teams carrying out forced cell extractions and responding to disruptions by reducing the duration of physical encounters, preventing guards from becoming exhausted and preventing injuries. They did not “significantly change” the time needed to control inmates during escorts, but required less effort.
“GLOVE boosts the confidence of smaller or less trained members,” according to the study. “The inmates’ compliance was immediate” compared to other methods, he adds.
The electric shock does not cause the body to freeze like a Taser shock does, but “works by overloading peripheral nerve endings” in the skin to cause pain, according to the study. Participants who were wet or had oil on their skin described even more powerful shocks, with one reporting discomfort for 30 minutes afterwards.
Senator says ICE did not respond to request for details on glove use
ICE’s contract requires the manufacturer, Compliant Technologies LLC, to deliver the gloves within six months. Its owner, Jeff Niklaus, said he was unavailable for an interview, citing a busy workload.
The six-month agreement includes gloves, support equipment and services. The gloves themselves cost $2,495 each.
Compliant Technologies’ instruction manual states that glove users should “always give the subject(s) a reasonable opportunity to comply before using force.” He suggests using them for no more than 15 seconds, unless the subject becomes more violent or endangers people.
White House border official Tom Homan said it could “take a while” before the gloves are on the ground because ICE is still ironing out training and policy issues. A statement released Tuesday by ICE did not answer questions about the study and the status of the deployment, but said “agents are highly trained in de-escalation tactics.”
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada said ICE had not responded to an Aug. 27 letter in which she and 15 other Senate Democrats called on ICE to abandon plans to buy the gloves or to explain how they would be used and prevent abuse. She said she still wanted answers.
“Without ICE’s answers to legitimate questions from 16 U.S. senators, the American public is left in the dark about how these electric shock gloves are deployed and what training, if any, the agents who use them have received,” she said.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the purchase, accusing critics of trying to deprive federal law enforcement agents of security equipment. In a statement to CBS News in August, a DHS spokesperson called the Democrats’ response “despicable and a deliberate attempt to undermine and endanger our officers.”
“ICE is constantly evaluating the needs of our agents 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 after careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology used by ICE complies with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards,” the spokesperson said, adding that staff are “highly trained in de-escalation tactics.”
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