ICE Funding Approved by Susan Collins and Trump GOP to Deliver Electric Shock Gloves to Agents Nationwide
“Congress must end the blank check to ICE,” said the president of one immigrant rights group.
A protester bangs against the door of Maine Senator Susan Collins’ office in Biddeford, Maine, as she demonstrates against ICE after an ICE shooting killed a man on July 13, 2026.
(Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Stephen Prager
Aug 12, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
As Mainers continue to target Sen. Susan Collins’ office with protests following a recent killing by an immigration agent, new reporting shows how some of the $70 billion she and her GOP colleagues gave to President Donald Trump’s immigration agencies is being spent.
According to the Associated Press on Tuesday:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The devices are known as the GLOVE, which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.
‘ICE Is Her Running Mate’: Maine Democrats Spotlight Collins’ Support for Rogue Trump Agency
Collins Won’t Say She Regrets Funding ICE After Killing in Maine
As the company’s website explains, “the discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks, or scars.” It describes them as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform.”
John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, told the AP that the sensation is “immediate and sharp,” comparing it to a “bee sting.”
While he said it could be an effective tool to prevent “resistance,” he warned that it should not be used as a form of punishment against those merely exhibiting “verbal defiance or belligerence” or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women, or elderly or disabled people.
But given the recent record of rampant civil rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force, and efforts to lie about misconduct, civil rights advocates are warning that these gloves are being placed into, or onto, the exact wrong hands.
“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,” Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Common Dreams. “Now they might be equipped with a device that allows them to deliver an electric shock with their hands by pushing a small button, in a move that might be imperceptible to those watching.”
Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, concurred, telling Common Dreams that ICE is a “rogue agency with an $80 billion slush fund that allows them to concoct and fund new ways to visit cruelty upon our communities.”
“Arming poorly trained agents with electric shock gloves to inflict pain on our neighbors is disgusting and barbaric,” Matos added. “Congress must end the blank check to ICE, and ICE must get out of our communities.”
The shock gloves are just one way that immigration agencies are spending the $70 billion in additional funding they were given back in June, when Republicans in the Senate voted 52-47 to authorize the funding despite rampant lawlessness. Only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), voted against supercharging the funding.
In a July 16 letter to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, Collins defended her vote for the increased ICE funding by pointing to “reforms” passed in April as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s broader appropriations bill, which included $20 million for body cameras and $2 million for “de-escalation” training.
Collins’ office did not immediately respond when asked by Common Dreams whether she believes electric shock gloves were a good form of “de-escalation.”
A five-term senator in the midst of a fierce reelection bid against Democrat Troy Jackson has taken fierce criticism for her vote to support ICE on the campaign trail, which has only grown in intensity since July’s fatal shooting of 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford.
It was one of two fatal shootings of men without criminal records over the course of a week. ICE later acknowledged that the victims were not the target of their operations.
When asked after the shooting, Collins declined to say that she regretted her vote for increased ICE funding.
Protesters who gathered outside Collins’ Biddeford office on Tuesday said she should.
“$70 billion to fund the terror that left my family and community in fear,” Fernanda McLaughlin, a Maine resident and community organizer, said over the loudspeaker, according to NBC News Center Maine. “You know what that money can be really used for? To feed Mainers. To fund our schools. To fund our health system.”
“There were no guardrails included, and she still voted yes on it,” McLaughlin said. “Simple guardrails that exist in nearly every other law enforcement agency across our nation.”
“Congress must end the blank check to ICE,” said the president of one immigrant rights group.
A protester bangs against the door of Maine Senator Susan Collins’ office in Biddeford, Maine, as she demonstrates against ICE after an ICE shooting killed a man on July 13, 2026.
(Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Stephen Prager
Aug 12, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
As Mainers continue to target Sen. Susan Collins’ office with protests following a recent killing by an immigration agent, new reporting shows how some of the $70 billion she and her GOP colleagues gave to President Donald Trump’s immigration agencies is being spent.
According to the Associated Press on Tuesday:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The devices are known as the GLOVE, which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.
‘ICE Is Her Running Mate’: Maine Democrats Spotlight Collins’ Support for Rogue Trump Agency
Collins Won’t Say She Regrets Funding ICE After Killing in Maine
As the company’s website explains, “the discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks, or scars.” It describes them as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform.”
John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, told the AP that the sensation is “immediate and sharp,” comparing it to a “bee sting.”
While he said it could be an effective tool to prevent “resistance,” he warned that it should not be used as a form of punishment against those merely exhibiting “verbal defiance or belligerence” or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women, or elderly or disabled people.
But given the recent record of rampant civil rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force, and efforts to lie about misconduct, civil rights advocates are warning that these gloves are being placed into, or onto, the exact wrong hands.
“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,” Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Common Dreams. “Now they might be equipped with a device that allows them to deliver an electric shock with their hands by pushing a small button, in a move that might be imperceptible to those watching.”
Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, concurred, telling Common Dreams that ICE is a “rogue agency with an $80 billion slush fund that allows them to concoct and fund new ways to visit cruelty upon our communities.”
“Arming poorly trained agents with electric shock gloves to inflict pain on our neighbors is disgusting and barbaric,” Matos added. “Congress must end the blank check to ICE, and ICE must get out of our communities.”
The shock gloves are just one way that immigration agencies are spending the $70 billion in additional funding they were given back in June, when Republicans in the Senate voted 52-47 to authorize the funding despite rampant lawlessness. Only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), voted against supercharging the funding.
In a July 16 letter to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, Collins defended her vote for the increased ICE funding by pointing to “reforms” passed in April as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s broader appropriations bill, which included $20 million for body cameras and $2 million for “de-escalation” training.
Collins’ office did not immediately respond when asked by Common Dreams whether she believes electric shock gloves were a good form of “de-escalation.”
A five-term senator in the midst of a fierce reelection bid against Democrat Troy Jackson has taken fierce criticism for her vote to support ICE on the campaign trail, which has only grown in intensity since July’s fatal shooting of 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford.
It was one of two fatal shootings of men without criminal records over the course of a week. ICE later acknowledged that the victims were not the target of their operations.
When asked after the shooting, Collins declined to say that she regretted her vote for increased ICE funding.
Protesters who gathered outside Collins’ Biddeford office on Tuesday said she should.
“$70 billion to fund the terror that left my family and community in fear,” Fernanda McLaughlin, a Maine resident and community organizer, said over the loudspeaker, according to NBC News Center Maine. “You know what that money can be really used for? To feed Mainers. To fund our schools. To fund our health system.”
“There were no guardrails included, and she still voted yes on it,” McLaughlin said. “Simple guardrails that exist in nearly every other law enforcement agency across our nation.”
ICE Is Buying Up to $20 Million Worth of Electric Shock Gloves
The manufacturer says the gloves can allow ICE agents to force compliance within seconds.
By Sharon Zhang ,
The manufacturer says the gloves can allow ICE agents to force compliance within seconds.
By Sharon Zhang ,
August 12, 2026
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents run out of Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center as they protect vehicles during a shift change on June 7, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey.Adam Gray / Getty Images
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is buying up to $20 million worth of gloves that can allow agents to issue a painful electric shock to force people into compliance, granting the agency yet another tool as it extrajudicially abducts and kills people across the country.
According to a notice posted by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, ICE is planning to spend between $10 million and $20 million on the gloves. The product is made by a Kentucky-based company known as Compliant Technologies LLC, and is called the “Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter,” or the G.L.O.V.E.
The devices look like a normal pair of work gloves and are described by the company as an “invisible partner” and “force multiplier” for law enforcement. When the electric shock function is turned on with a button on the back of the glove, an officer can then administer a shock by laying hands on the subject’s bare skin.
This can force a subject to comply within seconds, Compliant Technologies claims.
“It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting,” Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths President John Peters told The Associated Press. Peters’s organization has been studying the device. “If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool.”
Peters says that it would offer a “great advantage” to officers who are weaker, and can be used to force ICE subjects to exit homes or vehicles or to move in and out of ICE detention centers.
Civil liberties advocates have raised alarm about the devices, noting ICE agents’ extensive abuses amid the Trump administration’s immigration raids across the U.S.
“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, an expert on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, to AP. “Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”
“ICE has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to use aggressive and even deadly force against immigrants and U.S. citizens alike,” said Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, in a statement. “Arming poorly trained agents with electric shock gloves to inflict pain on our neighbors is disgusting.”
The product’s user manual warns that use of the product can “increase the affects [sic] that can cause sudden death,” like disruptions to heart rhythm, blood pressure, and blood chemistry.
The company warns that it should not be used on particularly vulnerable populations like the elderly, children, and pregnant people. The company also says that it should not be used as punishment or on people merely expressing verbal defiance or belligerence, and that it should not be applied for more than 15 seconds.
The purchase grants another tool to ICE agents, whose agency already faces scrutiny for abuses. ICE agents have shot and killed at least 10 people since the start of the second Trump administration, while at least 54 people have been killed in ICE custody since 2025, as deaths in detention have reached record highs.
Meanwhile, the purchase is a drop in the bucket for the agency after Congress granted another $70 billion to ICE and Border Patrol earlier this year, on top of another $75 billion infusion last year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is buying up to $20 million worth of gloves that can allow agents to issue a painful electric shock to force people into compliance, granting the agency yet another tool as it extrajudicially abducts and kills people across the country.
According to a notice posted by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, ICE is planning to spend between $10 million and $20 million on the gloves. The product is made by a Kentucky-based company known as Compliant Technologies LLC, and is called the “Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter,” or the G.L.O.V.E.
The devices look like a normal pair of work gloves and are described by the company as an “invisible partner” and “force multiplier” for law enforcement. When the electric shock function is turned on with a button on the back of the glove, an officer can then administer a shock by laying hands on the subject’s bare skin.
This can force a subject to comply within seconds, Compliant Technologies claims.
“It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting,” Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths President John Peters told The Associated Press. Peters’s organization has been studying the device. “If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool.”
Peters says that it would offer a “great advantage” to officers who are weaker, and can be used to force ICE subjects to exit homes or vehicles or to move in and out of ICE detention centers.
Civil liberties advocates have raised alarm about the devices, noting ICE agents’ extensive abuses amid the Trump administration’s immigration raids across the U.S.
“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, an expert on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, to AP. “Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”
“ICE has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to use aggressive and even deadly force against immigrants and U.S. citizens alike,” said Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, in a statement. “Arming poorly trained agents with electric shock gloves to inflict pain on our neighbors is disgusting.”
The product’s user manual warns that use of the product can “increase the affects [sic] that can cause sudden death,” like disruptions to heart rhythm, blood pressure, and blood chemistry.
The company warns that it should not be used on particularly vulnerable populations like the elderly, children, and pregnant people. The company also says that it should not be used as punishment or on people merely expressing verbal defiance or belligerence, and that it should not be applied for more than 15 seconds.
The purchase grants another tool to ICE agents, whose agency already faces scrutiny for abuses. ICE agents have shot and killed at least 10 people since the start of the second Trump administration, while at least 54 people have been killed in ICE custody since 2025, as deaths in detention have reached record highs.
Meanwhile, the purchase is a drop in the bucket for the agency after Congress granted another $70 billion to ICE and Border Patrol earlier this year, on top of another $75 billion infusion last year.
Matthew Chapman
August 12, 2026
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to board Air Force One, en route to Joint Base Andrews, in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., August 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
New Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to employ electroshock gloves to incapacitate suspects were met with horror by a CNN panel on Wednesday.
Anchor Brianna Keilar raised her own concerns to correspondent Brian Todd, noting that "first off, you can't always tell if someone's pregnant ... especially in cold weather when people are all rugged up with coats. We've seen how sometimes you can't always tell if someone's disabled."
Todd concurred with this worry — and noted other people have raised alarm as well.
He noted the opinion of Jen Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing for the American Civil Liberties Union, who said of the plan, "I spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. They now will be able to deploy electric shocks with a slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do. Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public."
Furthermore, said Todd to Keilar, "You raise some great points. If a woman is in her first trimester of pregnancy, a lot of the time, you can't tell she's pregnant. So if a confrontation happens and this is used on her, that could be devastating."
Already, public officials are reacting to the plan, with New York authorities promising legal action if anyone in their state is hurt using the technology, and Minnesota DFL Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan calling the gloves "absolutely horrific" in a CNN segment shortly after.
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