Overview
- ICE awarded the no‑bid $16.7 million contract Friday to Compliant Technologies LLC in Kentucky to buy 6,000 pairs of the GLOVE model patrol gloves.
- Each GLOVE unit is listed at about $2,495 and the deal includes parts and six months of support, with the devices appearing as ordinary gloves until an officer activates an electrical mode.
- The gloves must touch bare skin to deliver a painful electrical discharge and ICE says they will be used in high‑tension arrests, transfers of combative detainees and crowd control as a lower‑impact tool.
- Acquisition documents do not detail training, reporting or review rules, and 16 Democratic senators led by Catherine Cortez Masto plus civil‑rights groups have urged cancellation over risks of misuse and medical harm; reporting cites past ICE use‑of‑force concerns in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis.
- Watch for congressional and legal challenges and for any public release of training and accountability rules because those steps will determine whether the gloves change field practice or prompt oversight hearings and lawsuits.