WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend up to $20 million on gloves that deliver electric shocks, according to a notice the Department of Homeland Security published Monday, and could award the no-bid contract as early as Friday.

The devices, marketed as the CTG 5 GLOVE by Compliant Technologies LLC, would be issued to officers in ICE's Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations units, the two divisions responsible for arresting, detaining and deporting people who violate U.S. immigration laws. Delivery would be completed by March 2027, The Verge reported.

The purchase would put a new use-of-force tool in the hands of an agency that has come under scrutiny after several fatal shootings during immigration operations, and would arrive as ICE works to meet the daily arrest quotas set under President Trump's deportation program.

How the device works

The glove — its name expands to Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — is activated by a button and can deliver up to 380 volts, roughly three times the charge of a standard U.S. wall outlet, the BBC reported. It fires up to 30 pulses per second and requires skin contact, allowing an officer to touch a subject's clothing before moving to a wrist or elbow.

Compliant Technologies describes the device on its website as "a great, humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution" that is "usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds," according to The Verge. The user manual instructs officers not to shock a subject for more than 15 seconds, not to apply more than one pair of gloves to a single person, and to avoid using the device on children, the elderly, pregnant women or people with disabilities.

Unlike a Taser, which drives sharp barbs into the skin and delivers up to 50,000 volts, the gloves do not complete an electrical circuit inside the body. A built-in microprocessor logs each activation.

Already in some jails

Similar gloves from the same manufacturer are already in use at some U.S. police departments and jails. Lt. Butch Gallion, an administrator at the Hawkins County jail in Tennessee, told the BBC the tool often works without being fired.

"When you push the button to turn them on there's a light that displays. The inmates understand that light, and often just seeing the light brings compliance," Gallion said.

The ICE order would be the largest single purchase from Compliant Technologies to date, the BBC reported. The Verge noted that two corrections officers were charged in 2022 with beating and shocking an inmate in two separate attacks with similar gloves.

Civil-liberties objection

The American Civil Liberties Union said the concealed nature of the device makes abuse harder to detect. Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director on policing at the ACLU, told the BBC that "ICE spent the last year showing this country that they are willing to disregard the law and are too quick to use force, with devastating and at times fatal consequences for citizens and noncitizens alike."

"Giving immigration agents a concealed means of delivering terrible pain is a recipe for more harm to the public and less accountability," Borchetta added.

DHS told the BBC that "ICE is constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country."

What is missing

Beyond the general DHS statement, today's reporting contains no substantive administration or congressional defense of the specific decision to buy shock devices, and no response from Compliant Technologies, which told the BBC it was unable to comment on the sale. The two wire-style outlets covering the notice have not surfaced an operational case for the purchase from an ICE field official on the record.

DHS said the no-bid contract could be published as soon as Friday.