Group largely consisting of Democratic senators cites excessive force, civil rights violations
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a $16.7 million no-bid contract to Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies for 6,000 electrical-shock gloves intended for use in immigration enforcement detainment operations, according to a contract entry published Thursday on a federal procurement database.
The contract covers a product marketed as “Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter,” or GLOVE, which delivers an electrical current when contacting a person’s skin. At $2,495 per unit, the procurement also includes support and equipment services from Compliant Technologies.
In the contract text, ICE described the procurement as a response to the agency’s need for a “non-lethal, de-escalation device” to “diffuse situations or high-stress environments where physical altercations are likely.” The contract also states that “this technology is vital to meeting mission demands, ensuring officer safety, and achieving the President’s public safety and immigration enforcement priorities.”
According to the company’s product instruction manual, users are directed to “always give the subject(s) a reasonable opportunity to comply before force is used.”
On the same day the contract was published, a group largely consisting of Democratic senators sent a letter to ICE Acting Director David Venturella opposing the procurement. The letter cites “numerous well-documented incidents of excessive force and civil rights violations” by ICE personnel over the past year, stating that “these incidents have shown the American people that ICE personnel are not adequately trained or accountable for their interactions with civilians.”
The senators specifically referenced the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, which occurred within weeks of each other in the Minneapolis metropolitan area earlier this year.
“The American people have made it clear that ICE must de-escalate its immigration enforcement operations,” the letter reads.