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ICE orders 6,000 electric shock gloves in $16.7M deal despite backlash
Confirmed
Updated on: August 27, 2026 / 7:32 PM EDT / CBS News U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has granted a $16.7 million no-bid contract for 6,000 gloves that can deliver electric shocks, a new use-of-force tool that the agency claims will help officers control resisting detainees and avoid using more serious or lethal weapons.
ICE said the gloves would be deployed under approved policies, training requirements and accountability standards, though procurement documents do not account for those safeguards in detail. The notice said the gloves would be used with “approved policy, training, and accountability standards,” but it did not elaborate.
They said ICE must make public details about how officers will be trained and how use of the gloves will be documented and reviewed internally to avoid misuse. A notice on a federal database published Thursday revealed ICE signed a no-bid contract with Kentucky-based firm Compliant Technologies LLC, which produces the items.
Federal records show ICE signed the contract Wednesday with a Kentucky-based company known as Compliant Technologies LLC, but formally posted the award Thursday. “The blatant and tragic misuse of force in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, Maine, and other locations around the country raises significant skepticism about the agency’s professional capability to safely deploy a new tool that could be used to harm Americans without cause,” the letter said.
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," the spokesperson said, adding that personnel are "highly trained in de-escalation tactics.
Cortez Masto and the other senators said in their letter that the device “presents substantial risks if deployed during civil arrests — even more so if it is deployed without clear limits, appropriate training, and comprehensive oversight.
“Sanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from any safety equipment is despicable and a deliberate attempt to undermine and endanger our officers,” the agency said in a statement. ICE's notice said officers would use them in “high-tension environments,” including while making arrests, transporting combative detainees and responding to civil disturbances outside detention facilities.
Civil rights advocates have said ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force with little oversight or accountability while enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. It said that the shocks would help “maintain control over inmates and prevent aggression or escape attempts,” allow officers to handcuff people hiding their hands, and assist in crowd control.
What's confirmed
- A notice on a federal database published Thursday revealed ICE signed a no-bid contract with Kentucky-based firm Compliant Technologies LLC, which produces the items.
- The notice said the gloves would be used with “approved policy, training, and accountability standards,” but it did not elaborate.
- Federal records show ICE signed the contract Wednesday with a Kentucky-based company known as Compliant Technologies LLC, but formally posted the award Thursday.
- ICE said the gloves would be deployed under approved policies, training requirements and accountability standards, though procurement documents do not account for those safeguards in detail.
What's still developing
- Civil rights advocates have said ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force with little oversight or accountability while enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
- “The blatant and tragic misuse of force in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, Maine, and other locations around the country raises significant skepticism about the agency’s professional capability to safely…
- ICE's notice said officers would use them in “high-tension environments,” including while making arrests, transporting combative detainees and responding to civil disturbances outside detention facilities.
- “It will be used when a subject is actively or passively resisting and an officer needs to gain control quickly to prevent injuries to both parties,” the document said.
- It said that the shocks would help “maintain control over inmates and prevent aggression or escape attempts,” allow officers to handcuff people hiding their hands, and assist in crowd control.
- Cortez Masto and the other senators said in their letter that the device “presents substantial risks if deployed during civil arrests — even more so if it is deployed without clear limits, appropriate training, and…
- They said ICE must make public details about how officers will be trained and how use of the gloves will be documented and reviewed internally to avoid misuse.
- “Sanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from any safety equipment is despicable and a deliberate attempt to undermine and endanger our officers,” the agency said in a statement.