Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“Introducing low-visibility electric shock weapons into our immigration enforcement system is an unacceptable escalation.”
A group of House Democrats on Monday demanded the immediate cancellation of a nearly $17 million federal contract to provide electric shock gloves to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who have been unleashed on American cities under the second Trump administration and enabled to commit horrific—and, in some cases, deadly—abuses against undocumented immigrants and American citizens.
The Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, expressed “profound alarm” over the contract in a new letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose agency oversees ICE. The letter’s 50 signatories wrote that the devices, known as Generated Low Output Voltage Emitters (GLOVE), are “designed to inflict severe pain without leaving physical evidence or visible optics,” making them “a uniquely dangerous tool for unaccountable abuse.”
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“We demand the immediate cancellation of this contract and a total ban on the deployment of these abusive devices across all immigration enforcement and detention operations,” the lawmakers continued. “The rollout of these weapons to thousands of field agents across ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations contributes to a DHS environment already under widespread scrutiny for state-sanctioned abuse, torture, and arbitrary cruelty.”
The Democrats sent their letter days after ICE granted a $16.7 million no-bid contract to the Kentucky-based firm Compliant Technologies for 6,000 pairs of electric shock gloves, ignoring the protests of lawmakers and human rights groups.
The ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) are among the advocacy organizations that have decried ICE plans to equip its agents with the gloves. CVT has described the devices as “inherently abusive equipment that facilitates torture.”
In their Monday letter, the group of House Democrats warned that the “dangers of these ‘less-lethal’ weapons are not theoretical,” pointing to the case of a 43-year-old man in Kentucky who died after corrections officers shocked him dozens of times with electric gloves.
More than 50 people have died in ICE custody during President Donald Trump’s second term.
“This administration continues to outfit ICE and [Customs and Border Protection] with the tools of an occupying paramilitary force—despite widespread human rights violations carried out by its agents during immigration enforcement actions,” the lawmakers wrote. “Introducing low-visibility electric shock weapons into our immigration enforcement system is an unacceptable escalation that prioritizes physical intimidation and unaccountable force over human safety and administrative accountability.
On top of calling for cancellation of the contract, the House Democrats demanded information on any threat assessments ICE conducted before awarding the contract, whether the agency has trained its officers with electric shock gloves, and whether DHS intends to implement any productions to “prevent officers from using them for punitive measures, retaliation, or against non-threatening individuals.”
“We reiterate our demand that you immediately halt the acquisition and deployment of electric shock gloves, cancel the contract, and refocus the Department’s resources on accountability and humanitarian standards rather than expanding a paramilitary apparatus,” the lawmakers wrote.
Article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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