White House border czar Tom Homan defended a plan by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday to equip agents with gloves capable of delivering painful electric shocks, asserting that the tool would help personnel end confrontations without resorting to lethal force.
“It’s another device to help gain compliance when someone isn’t complying,” Homan said during an interview on the conservative network Fox News Channel. “You can’t go from zero to 100—right?—and have lethal force be the first resort.”
Homan’s comments mark the first public statement by a Trump administration official defending ICE’s plan to spend up to $20 million to acquire thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for its agents.
The devices are known as G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter) and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC, a company based in Lexington, Kentucky. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.
Homan argued that the gloves could help prevent such confrontations. He noted that they would offer ICE agents a less-lethal option—similar to stun guns or pepper spray—for use in potentially violent situations on the streets and in detention centers. He added that it would be “some time” before agents in the field could use the gloves, as the agency is still in the process of establishing training protocols and addressing other matters. The plan has sparked harsh criticism from civil rights groups, Democratic lawmakers, and some experts on the use of force, who argue that ICE agents have resorted to force too quickly while carrying out Trump’s immigration crackdown. At least six people have been shot and killed by immigration agents since last year.
