Democrats urge ICE to halt purchase of electric gloves ‘before more innocent lives are lost’

House Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee are calling for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin to abandon plans to equip immigration agents with electric shock gloves and “halt this procurement before more innocent lives are lost.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month published a notice of their plan to buy the generated low output voltage emitter, marketed as G.L.O.V.E., prompting widespread concern over how they may be used. ICE is a part of DHS led by Mullin.

“Under the Trump administration, ICE has repeatedly violated the law and disregarded its own policies on the use of force, shooting 23 people and killing 6, including 3 U.S. citizens. Many of these individuals were not the target of immigration enforcement operations and, in some cases, they were simply exercising their First Amendment rights. As we have raised in previous letters, DHS personnel have also permanently injured and nearly killed innocent people with so-called ‘less-lethal’ weapons, not unlike the G.L.O.V.E.,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote in the letter to Mullin.

“Indeed, ICE has demonstrated a pattern of misusing tools and devices, including rubber bullets and chemical sprays, in manners that put the public at greater risk of serious injury or death.”

In addition to the high-profile killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who both died in altercations with federal agents in Minnesota, the use of rubber bullets by federal law enforcement has led to several protestors being blinded in one eye .

Guidance from the company that produces the gloves, Compliant Technologies, recommends various limitations in its own literature, noting that failure to follow guidelines could result in “ injury or death .”

The product manual for G.L.O.V.E. outlines a number of potential dangers with the product, including advising that it not be used against the elderly, pregnant or disabled people while noting that not all underlying medical conditions are visible.

Thompson noted that the gloves should not be used on one individual by two officers at the same time and that the company advises against skin contact beyond 15 seconds.

“Given ICE’s horrific record of violence against the public, the agency must not be allowed to equip its officers and agents with a device that demands both significant training for and restraint by its users,” Thompson said.

The Trump administration has defended its plans to purchase the gloves, thought it has not said when officers might receive them or in what setting they might be used, such as within detention facilities rather than with the broader public.

In response to The Hill, DHS repeated the same statement it has previously issues about the gloves.

“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 said.

Border czar Tom Homan has described the gloves as something of an intermediary step.

“Look, it’s another device to help someone be compliant, whether or not — you know, you just can’t go from zero to 100, right?” he said during an appearance on Fox News last week.

“There’s a lot of training involved. There’s still some background issues that need to be dealt with. So, the implementation of these gloves out in the field are going to be a while. I think they serve a better purpose in detention facility, where detainees get out of control and there’s fights in the facility,” Homan said.

“So we’ll see. Still, the training protocol is being written and being reviewed. Then we’ll see when they get rolled out.”