ICE Is Shopping for Shock Gloves: Up to $20 Million, 380 Volts, Delivery by March 2027

A Department of Homeland Security notice describes electrified gloves made by Compliant Technologies. The document, as reported, does not say which field offices would get them.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to spend up to $20 million on specialized gloves that deliver a painful electric shock to a person an officer touches, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice reported by The Verge on August 12, 2026.

The notice was published on Monday, August 10, 2026, the Monday preceding that report. It sets a delivery deadline of March 2027. The quantity of devices is unspecified in the notice, per The Verge's account.

What the device is

The item named in the contract is the CTG 5 GLOVE, which the manufacturer expands as Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. It is made by Compliant Technologies, which classifies it as a CD3 device — Conductive Distraction and De-escalation.

The shock is triggered by a switch on the glove itself, which The Verge reports can be activated in about a second. The charge is delivered on skin contact at a maximum voltage of up to 380V. The Verge characterizes that output as closer to a dog's shock collar than to a taser.

The glove's user guide, as quoted by The Verge, says the shock “inhibits/ distracts the subject from performing coordinated muscle movement.” The same guide carries several limits: do not use more than one pair on a single individual, do not shock a person for more than 15 seconds, and do not use the device against high-risk populations, a category the guide lists as including children, elderly people, pregnant people and disabled people.

How the manufacturer describes it

Compliant Technologies markets the glove as “a great, humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution” that is “usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds.” Because the gloves are not immediately identifiable as a weapon, the company calls the product an “invisible partner” that enhances “established tactics, techniques and procedures,” and bills it as “The New Protocol in Peace Keeping.”

Similar gloves from the same company have already been used by some police departments and jails in recent years, The Verge reports. In 2022, two corrections officers were charged over beating and shocking an inmate in two separate attacks.

The responses on the record

The Associated Press reported that the Department of Homeland Security was working on a response to its inquiries but offered “no immediate comment” on the purchase plans.

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, questioned in a statement to the Associated Press why the devices would be needed for civil immigration enforcement.

“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do. Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”

The Verge's own assessment of the purchase, stated in the article, is that the gloves “will just be a new way to hurt people.”

What is not established

The notice, as described in the reporting available, does not identify which Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices would receive the gloves. It does not say whether any would be issued in Los Angeles, and this desk has no document establishing a deployment plan for the city. Nothing in the reporting sets out the use-of-force policy that would govern an officer's decision to press the switch.