Democrats and Migrant Advocates Reject ICE Electric Glove Contract

They condemned the planned purchase of CTG-5 gloves, which use electrical pulses to cause pain upon contact with the skin.

On Thursday, U.S. Democratic lawmakers and migrant advocates rejected the allocation of US$20 million to purchase electric-shock gloves for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

“Arming poorly trained agents with electric-shock gloves to inflict pain on our neighbors is repugnant and barbaric,” said Kica Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC).

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a US$20 million contract to purchase CTG-5 gloves, which have electrodes in the palm and emit electrical pulses upon contact with the skin to cause pain. The DHS described them as a “de-escalation device” and defended ICE’s continuous evaluation of the equipment its agents need.

Matos described ICE as “an out-of-control agency with an opaque US$80 billion fund” and called on Congress to end the “blank check” given to the agency.

Here is another less lethal weapon that ICE is going to start using against us.

When preparing for actions against ICE make sure you begin thinking about appropriate clothing/gear to deal with these new Electric Shock Gloves. pic.twitter.com/o6W4rUABZ9

— FPW_FreePalestine (@rw_pw) August 12, 2026

Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., said that “under no circumstances” can the Department of Homeland Security be trusted with electric-shock gloves. She called for passage of her “Melt ICE Act” bill, which would cut the department’s funding to detain immigrants.

Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, D-Fla., criticized on the same network the expenditure of US$20 million in taxpayer money on gloves for “masked and lawless thugs.”

“This cannot be fixed; the only solution is abolition,” said Jorge Torres, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), accusing the administration of President Donald Trump of having “the ability to torture people discreetly.”

ICE has faced ongoing criticism over its detention operations. In recent months, controversy has focused on the killing of Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Colombian national Johan Duran in Maine. In January, the deaths of two U.S. citizens during immigration operations in Minneapolis also sparked a wave of protests against the agency.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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