Archive · 13 Aug 2026
Trump to equip ICE agents with electric shock gloves
The United States has a special police group called ICE.
ICE's job is to find people who came to the country without permission.
President Donald Trump wants ICE officers to get special gloves.
These gloves can give someone a painful electric shock.
Some people think this plan is a good idea, and other people are very worried.
The company that makes the gloves says officers must take training classes to use them.
It also says the gloves should never be used as punishment or on children, older people, or people who are sick.
Many Americans say ICE is using too much force.
More than 50 people have died while ICE was holding them since the president started his new term.
Some leaders want an ICE jail in New Jersey to be closed.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to buy thousands of gloves that deliver painful electric shocks to suspects.
The manufacturer requires officers to complete a course and be re-certified every two years to use the gloves.
The company says the gloves should not be used as punishment, torture, or on children, pregnant women, the elderly and disabled people.
Activists have voiced alarm, and over 50 people have died in ICE custody since Trump started his second term in January last year.
A YouGov poll of more than 1,600 US citizens found over half say ICE uses too much force and only a quarter believe deportees are criminals.
- Who
- US President Donald Trump and ICE, opposed by activists, poll respondents, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
- What
- ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of electric shock gloves for its agents as part of the immigration crackdown.
- When
- Currently announced; over 50 deaths in ICE custody have occurred since January last year, and Renee Good was shot dead on January 7.
- Where
- The United States, including an ICE detention centre in New Jersey.
- Why
- To add a new tool to the immigration enforcement arsenal, while critics say it reflects excessive force and a lack of accountability at ICE.
Activists and ICE Critics
Trump Administration and ICE Supporters
Electric shock gloves
Activists and ICE Critics
Activists are alarmed, saying the gloves add to ICE's use of brute force against alleged illegal immigrants with little oversight or accountability.
Trump Administration and ICE Supporters
The gloves are being added to ICE's arsenal as a planned enforcement tool, with the manufacturer prescribing a mandatory course, re-certification every two years, and restrictions on sensitive areas and high-risk populations.
ICE accountability and deaths
Activists and ICE Critics
Hakeem Jeffries called for closing a New Jersey ICE detention centre after an El Salvadoran man's family alleged medical negligence, and accused Trump of lying about the weaponisation of ICE.
Trump Administration and ICE Supporters
ICE announced that its field officers will be equipped with body-worn cameras by the end of September amid intensified pressure for accountability.
Public confidence in the crackdown
Activists and ICE Critics
A YouGov poll found over half of Americans say ICE uses too much force, nearly half have no confidence in the agency, and only a quarter believe deportees are actual criminals.
Trump Administration and ICE Supporters
The Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown and adds new tools despite waning public support.
- Planned purchase
- Up to $20 million for thousands of electric shock gloves
- Training requirement
- Mandatory course and re-certification every two years
- Restricted areas
- Head, face, throat, chest and groin
- Prohibited uses
- Punishment, torture, and use on children, pregnant women, elderly and disabled people
- Deaths in ICE custody
- Over 50 since Trump started his second term in January last year
- YouGov poll
- Over half of 1,600+ respondents say ICE uses too much force; nearly half want it abolished
- Body cameras
- ICE field officers to be equipped by the end of September
- Contested killing
- Renee Good, 37, shot dead by ICE officer Jonathan Ross on January 7