A report from the U.S. Army, revealed by the oversight group American Oversight, concludes that the electric shock gloves acquired by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August cause intense pain, fatigue, and a persistent fear of receiving additional shocks, according to information disclosed by the Associated Press (AP) based on documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The study was conducted in October 2024 at the military prison of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Army personnel simulated the role of combative prisoners.
The participants, many of whom were large men, stopped resisting seconds after receiving the shocks and were left with “fatigue, pain, and an excessive apprehension of receiving another shock”, according to the report. The most striking conclusion: “just seeing the glove was enough for them to want to obey.”
What exacerbates the situation is that ICE was aware of these findings before signing the contract. In August, the agency closed a deal for $16.7 million with Compliant Technologies LLC to acquire 6,000 pairs of the device, known as G.L.O.V.E., at $2,495 each, with delivery in six months.
The G.L.O.V.E. are conventional patrol gloves that, when a button is pressed, emit up to 380 volts directly onto the skin.
Unlike a taser—which causes muscle immobilization—this device "overloads the peripheral nerve endings" to generate pain. The study also found that wet or oily skin amplifies the effect: one participant reported discomfort for thirty minutes.
ICE has classified the gloves as “distraction and de-escalation devices” that are safer than other non-lethal options. However, Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, stated firmly: “The military assessment in ICE's own records shows that these gloves can cause intense pain and force compliance. 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 demonstrating its safety.”
The news takes on special significance in the current context of Donald Trump's immigration policy.
In Florida, for example, arrests of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between October 2025 and April 2026, and the Miramar office recorded over 41,000 arrests since January 2025, the highest number in the country.
It is estimated that around 400,000 Cubans remain in the United States under Form I-220A, without a guaranteed immigration status, and many regularly attend ICE appointments or remain detained in centers such as Krome or the so-called "Deportation Depot" in Baker, Florida.
That context adds to a fiscal year 2026 that closed as the deadliest in ICE's 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 individuals 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 answer AP's questions regarding 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," asserted Cortez Masto.
California was the first state to take action: Governor Gavin Newsom signed the AB 2760 law at the end of September, which prohibits the use of gloves by local, state, and federal agents in that territory until 2030, although legal experts warn that courts may overturn the restriction on federal agents due to the constitutional supremacy clause.
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