Trump plans for immigration agents to wear shock-delivering gloves

Trump plans for immigration agents to carry gloves capable of delivering electric shocks, amidst rejection from civil organizations that warn about the intensification of methods in immigration operations.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), which denounces “cruelty” against migrant workers, accused the Donald Trump Administration this Wednesday of having “the capacity to torture people discreetly.”

«We must end the violence. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) must get out of our streets, our communities, and our country. ICE must be abolished. This cannot be fixed; the only solution is abolition,” declared Jorge Torres, director of NDLON, in a statement.

The acquisition of the gloves

In addition, the Department of Homeland Security announced in a statement on Monday that the contract to acquire the CTG-5 gloves would reach 20 million dollars and the purchase could be completed by the end of March 2027.

The gloves have conductive electrodes on the palm that, when activated and touching a person’s skin directly—they do not work through clothing—emit electrical pulses to cause pain.

The intention of the Department of Homeland Security is to distribute them among ICE agents, who have already received numerous criticisms in recent months for their operations considered aggressive in detention campaigns ordered by the Trump Administration.

“De-escalation device”

The Department of Homeland Security described the gloves as a “de-escalation device,” but this has not prevented growing concern about giving immigration agents another tool that could escalate the use of force.

“ICE constantly evaluates the needs of our agents in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and deport illegal immigrants with criminal records,” the department stated in the release.

In recent months, the controversy surrounding ICE has focused on two fatal shootings of two migrants, the Mexican Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and the Colombian Johan Durán, which occurred during traffic stops in Texas and Maine, respectively.