The Trump administration is planning to spend up to $20 million equipping federal immigration agents with gloves capable of delivering electric shocks, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The devices, known as the CT-G5 G.L.O.V.E. — an acronym for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC, a company based in Lexington, Kentucky. The DHS said the purchase is expected to be completed by the end of March 2027 under a no-bid contract, with distribution targeted at officers within Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations divisions.

The gloves function as ordinary patrol gloves until an officer activates them with a small button, at which point they can deliver an electrical pulse of up to 380 volts when placed directly against a person's skin. Unlike a Taser, which fires barbed probes and can deliver up to 50,000 volts through the body, the gloves must make direct skin contact — typically at the wrist or elbow — to work, and do not complete an electrical circuit inside the body. The manufacturer describes the effect as similar to a bee sting, capable of rapidly inducing compliance by disrupting coordinated muscle movement. Compliant Technologies markets the device as