ICE plans to equip officers with electric-shock gloves, drawing legal and rights scrutiny

How the gloves work

The company warns the gloves should not be used as a "punishment" or on high-risk individuals including those who are pregnant, elderly people, small children and severely disabled individuals.

An Associated Press review found two other lawsuits alleging injuries from the gloves, including a man with heart problems who was shocked at a Las Vegas trade show and a defendant who said he was laughed at after being unnecessarily shocked in court; both cases have been dismissed.

Both of those lawsuits have been dismissed.

Earlier lawsuits and outcomes

The Associated Press reported that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has been moving to expand its less-lethal toolkit as it ramps up interior enforcement operations. Critics have raised questions about the training, oversight and accountability frameworks that would govern the new device.

Reporting identified Peter and Jenn Rolnick Borchetta among those connected to the company, and John Peters as an attorney involved in litigation referenced in the review. The AP also noted that Taser, a long-established brand in the conducted-energy-weapon market, is among the established alternatives the new device would compete with.

The gloves are described as a thin, flexible layer worn over an officer's hand that can complete a circuit when both contact points touch a person's body, producing a brief shock intended to disrupt a subject's muscles. Supporters argue the device offers a close-range alternative when officers cannot reach for a Taser or firearm.

Broader enforcement push

Opponents of the plan, including civil-liberties advocates cited in the reporting, have argued that close-contact shock weapons raise distinct risks because they require physical proximity to the subject and can be applied to areas of the body that more traditional conducted-energy weapons are not aimed at.

ICE has not publicly released a timeline for deployment, and DHS has not yet detailed the training requirements that would accompany any rollout. A DHS spokesperson told the AP that any procurement would be subject to the department's standard review process.

The Trump administration has signaled a broader push to expand the use of less-lethal tools across federal enforcement agencies, and the gloves are among several technologies under consideration as part of that effort.