Trump’s immigration policy is once again at the center of the debate after the president has included a new tool that can be used by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) soon. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to allocate up to $20 million to incorporate a new weapon for agents, and more specifically for units in charge of detention and deportation operations and national security investigations.
The device, known as GLOVE (“Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter”), has been manufactured by the company Compliant Technologies LLC and has been used in recent years by some prisons and police departments.
These are conventional patrol gloves that, after being activated with a button, become electric gloves capable of arresting any citizen upon direct contact with the skin. The company presents it as a “distraction and de-escalation” tool intended to control people who physically resist without resorting to potentially lethal weapons.
A new weapon that generates controversy in the US
The new weapon promoted by Trump represents yet another new aggressive method to stop those citizens who disobey authority. The device can produce painful shocks upon contact with the skin and, according to the document published by the DHS last Tuesday, ICE will distribute them among agents of the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) unit, in charge of making immigration arrests and detentions, as well as among Homeland Security Investigations officers.
However, the manufacturer promotes them as a “non-lethal option” that allows officers to act at a distance of up to three meters. Precisely this consideration is one of the central points of the controversy, since the authorities and defenders of the device maintain that having an intermediate alternative could avoid situations in which agents have to resort to force majeure.
The person responsible for border policy defends its use
After the tool was published in the federal government’s procurement forecasting system, the head of White House border policy, Thom Homan, has defended its use as an option to reduce the use of lethal force during arrests.
However, Homan has assured that “it will be a while” before these weapons are deployed on the ground, as the agency is still working on training protocols and other regulatory issues.
Several associations protest its approval
The plan, which is already public, has been criticized this past Wednesday by Democratic elected officials and experts in the use of force, who have described it as unnecessary and cruel. In addition, several civil rights organizations have questioned the tool, considering it “not appropriate” for immigration control operations by causing pain to citizens. Likewise, they warn of the risk that it could be used excessively or improperly.
Unlike Taser guns, their use does not cause serious falls or leave contact marks or burns. Additionally, the device is designed to reduce the risk of injury to both officers and civilians.
