A report from the U.S. Army, revealed by the watchdog group American Oversight, concludes that the electric shock gloves purchased by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August cause intense pain, fatigue, and a persistent fear of receiving additional shocks, according to the agency Associated Press (AP) based on documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The evaluation took place between October 21 and 23, 2024, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where U.S. soldiers simulated the roles of guards and inmates in a cell. The evaluation focused on determining the operational effectiveness of the devices but did not examine their potential health effects or establish that they were safe for individuals subjected to the shocks.
The participants, several of them large men, stopped resisting seconds after receiving the shocks and were left with "fatigue, pain, and an excessive apprehension about receiving another shock", according to the report. The participants reported that after experiencing the effects of the device, merely seeing the glove was enough to compel obedience.
Although the researchers deemed the devices effective for certain military prison operations, they acknowledged that the tests did not provide statistically significant data to predict their effectiveness nor constituted a technical assessment of the equipment.
What exacerbates the situation is that ICE was aware of these findings before signing the contract. In August, the agency awarded Compliant Technologies LLC a contract worth $16.7 million to acquire 6,000 units of the G.L.O.V.E. device, at a price of $2,495 each, in addition to other associated equipment and services. The contract includes a period of six months.
The G.L.O.V.E.s are conventional patrol gloves that, when a button is pressed, emit up to 380 volts directly onto the skin.
Unlike a taser, which causes muscular immobilization, this device "overloads the peripheral nerve endings" to induce pain. The assessment also confirmed that the gloves could cause pain through wet clothing and that water or oil enhanced their effects. In a test with oil on the skin, the discomfort persisted for approximately 30 minutes.
The manufacturer itself warns against its use in children, pregnant women, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities, groups whose specific risks have not been assessed.
ICE has rated the gloves as "distraction and de-escalation devices" safer than other non-lethal options. However, Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, was firm: "The military evaluation in ICE's own records shows that these gloves can cause intense pain and force obedience. It does not establish that they are safe. Everyone should be alarmed that ICE is preparing to deploy a tool designed to inflict, at best, intense pain, without proving that it is safe."
The news is particularly relevant in the current context of Donald Trump's immigration policy.
In Florida, for example, the arrests of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between October 2025 and April 2026, and the ICE field office in Miami, responsible for operations in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, had recorded over 41,000 arrests since January 2025, according to data released in April 2026.
It is estimated that approximately 400,000 Cubans remain in the United States under form I-220A, without guaranteed immigration status, and many regularly attend ICE appointments or remain detained in facilities such as Krome or the so-called "Deportation Depot" in Baker, Florida.
This context adds to a fiscal year 2026 that ended as the deadliest in ICE history, with 37 deaths in custody, compared to 23 in 2025 and 12 in 2024.
Incidents of the use of force in detention centers also increased by 37% in 2025, with at least 780 cases and more than 1,300 people affected, according to data from the Washington Post.
The border czar of the White House, Tom Homan, has acknowledged that the deployment "will take some time" because ICE is still working on training protocols and regulations. The Department of Homeland Security defends the purchase, but did not respond to AP's questions about the study.
Meanwhile, 16 Democratic senators, led by Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada, sent a letter on August 27 demanding the cancellation of the acquisition or an explanation of how abuses would be prevented. ICE has also not responded to that request.
"Without the ICE's responses to legitimate questions from 16 senators, the American public is being left in the dark about how these electric gloves are being deployed and what training, if any, the agents using them have received," said Cortez Masto.
California was the first state to take action: Governor Gavin Newsom signed law AB 2760 on September 29, which will prohibit the use of these gloves by local, state, and federal agents in that territory starting January 1, 2027, until January 1, 2030. However, legal experts warn that courts could overturn the restriction on federal agents due to the constitutional supremacy clause.
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