Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leaders were aware of findings from a previously unreleased Army study indicating that electric shock gloves caused intense pain and immediate compliance among test subjects before signing a $16.7 million contract to purchase 6,000 pairs of the devices, according to records obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight and shared with The Associated Press. The study, conducted at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas in October 2024, assessed the gloves' effectiveness in controlling combative prisoners during military exercises.
The Army study found that participants playing the role of combative inmates, several of whom were large-statured men, stopped resisting seconds after officers applied shocks by touching the gloves to their skin. The report noted that participants were left with "fatigue, soreness and excessive apprehensiveness to being shocked again." The authors wrote that after experiencing the effects, participants stated that "just seeing the GLOVE was enough to make them want to comply."
What the Right Is Saying
ICE officials describe the shock gloves as "distraction and de-escalation devices" intended to be safer than other non-lethal options for subduing targets during arrests, deportations, and civil disturbances. The agency argues that the rapid compliance the gloves induce keeps officers safer and prevents incidents from escalating to potentially lethal force. A statement released by ICE emphasized that "officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics," though the statement did not directly address the findings of the Army study or questions regarding the rollout status.
Supporters of the measure within the administration and among conservative commentators view the gloves as a necessary tool for law enforcement to manage uncooperative individuals effectively. White House border czar Tom Homan indicated that it could "be awhile" before the gloves are deployed in the field, as ICE is still finalizing training and policy issues. The agency maintains that the gloves provide a viable alternative to physical restraint methods that can lead to injuries for both officers and detainees.
What the Left Is Saying
Critics of the ICE contract, including Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and the watchdog group American Oversight, argue that the study demonstrates the gloves are designed to inflict intense pain without sufficient evidence of safety. Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, stated that while the assessment shows the 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 showing that it is safe for the people who will be subjected to it," Chukwu said.
Senator Cortez Masto noted that ICE has not responded to an August 27 letter in which she and 15 other Democratic Senate colleagues called for the agency to abandon its plan to buy the gloves or explain how they would be used and managed to avoid abuse. "Without ICE's responses to legitimate questions from 16 United States Senators, the American public is being left in the dark about how these electric shock gloves are being deployed and what, if any, training the agents who use them have received," she said. Critics also point to the manufacturer's warning that the gloves should not be used on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women, or disabled people, and note that the devices do not leave visible marks on the body.
What the Numbers Show
The Army study conducted at Fort Leavenworth assessed the gloves' impact on scenarios including forced cell extractions, disturbances in common areas, and the transport of uncooperative inmates. The study found that the gloves "increased the efficiency" of teams carrying out forced cell extractions and responding to disturbances by reducing the length of physical encounters, keeping guards from becoming exhausted, and preventing injuries. However, the devices did not "significantly change" the time it took to control inmates during escorts, though they required less effort.
The study noted that the electric jolt does not cause the body to freeze like a Taser shock but instead "works by overloading the peripheral nerve endings" of the skin to cause pain. Participants who were wet or had oil on their skin described even more powerful shocks, with one participant reporting discomfort for 30 minutes afterward. The contract, signed in August, requires the manufacturer, Compliant Technologies LLC, to deliver the 6,000 pairs of gloves within six months. The total cost of the contract is $16.7 million.
The Bottom Line
The release of the Army study highlights a divergence between ICE's public framing of the shock gloves as a safety tool and the internal assessment data which emphasizes the pain and fear induced in test subjects. While the study confirms the gloves' effectiveness in achieving immediate compliance and reducing officer fatigue, it does not provide comprehensive data on long-term safety or injury rates for the diverse populations ICE encounters outside of a controlled military prison environment. ICE has stated it is still ironing out training and policy issues, and Senator Cortez Masto continues to demand transparency regarding deployment protocols and agent training. The manufacturer's owner, Jeff Niklaus, declined an interview citing workload, leaving questions about field implementation pending.