House Democrats demand answers over ICE’s $16.7M purchase of 6,000 electric shock gloves

Democrats on the House Committee on Homeland Security on Monday expressed their “strong opposition” to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) plans to spend up to $20 million on electric shock gloves for their agents.

ICE awarded a $16.7 million contract with Compliant Technologies LLC for 6,000 of the company’s Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (G.L.O.V.E.) product, according to a funding notice published last month.

The Homeland Democrats pointed to past incidents of ICE using violent force during immigration enforcement operations in a letter to ICE’s acting director, David Venturella. They cited The New York Times’ reporting that agents have shot at least 23 people and killed six others since last year.

“We have many questions about ICE’s nearly $17 million contract for a device that is likely to be incorrectly used or abused by officers and agents resulting in more violence, injury or deaths,” they wrote.

The lawmakers included Democratic Reps. Lou Correa (Calif.), Shri Thanedar (Mich.), Seth Magaziner (R.I.), Dan Goldman (N.Y.), Timothy Kennedy (N.Y.), LaMonica McIver (N.J.), Julie Johnson (Texas) and Pablo José Hernández (P.R.).

Local law enforcement agencies, such as the Oklahoma County Jail, have used this technology, according to Oklahoma outlet KFOR . The device acts like a taser with a lower voltage level.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, pushed back against these concerns in a statement to The Hill.

“Congressional Democrats have made it clear that they no longer support the brave men and women of ICE, and the inflammatory rhetoric they and their allies have levied against them has led to unprecedented levels of threats and assaults,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that federal officers are “highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training.”

The House Democrats’ request follows a letter last week from a group of Democratic senators to Venturella, in which the lawmakers expressed “deep concern” with this planned purchase.

“Over the past year, ICE personnel has been involved in numerous well-documented incidents of excessive force and civil rights violations,” the senators wrote. “These incidents have shown the American people that ICE personnel are not adequately trained or accountable for their interactions with civilians.”

ICE is also planning to spend up to $2 million on robot “dogs” to assist their agents with immigration operations, according to a funding document posted on Thursday.

These robots, which are equipped with cameras and chemical detectors, will be used as “an additional tool to safely assess potentially dangerous situations” before deploying officers to a scene, an ICE spokesperson told The Hill.

“This technology does not replace law enforcement officers or their judgement — it simply provides another option to help protect officers and the communities they serve,” the spokesperson said.