White House border czar Tom Homan on Thursday defended plans to equip Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with gloves capable of delivering painful electric shocks, saying the devices could provide agents with another non-lethal option before resorting to deadly force.

“It’s another device to help someone get compliant when they are not,” Homan said during an appearance Thursday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

“You can’t just go from 0 to 100, right, and the first thing you go for is lethal force,” he added.

Homan’s comments came after the Department of Homeland Security published a notice Monday outlining plans to spend as much as $20 million to purchase the devices for ICE personnel conducting immigration enforcement operations. The devices are formally known as Generated Low Output Voltage Emitters, or G.L.O.V.E.s.

Manufactured by Compliant Technologies, the gloves can administer an electrical charge of up to 380 volts when they make direct contact with exposed skin. Unlike conventional tasers, however, the gloves are not intended to incapacitate an individual, and the electrical charge cannot pass through clothing.

Similar devices have previously been deployed by some law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities. According to a report by Oklahoma News 4 about their use at a local jail, the gloves do not deliver the same voltage as a conventional taser.

Justin Hall, a Kentucky jailer, told the Associated Press on Thursday that his agency began using the gloves four years ago as another means of dealing with inmates who were particularly difficult to control.

Hall said he was personally shocked more than 10 times while officers were being trained to use the equipment. He described the sensation as intensely painful but said the pain stopped once the person wearing the glove was no longer touching him.

According to Hall, his facility has rarely needed to actually use the gloves on inmates. Their presence, he said, can itself serve as an effective deterrent when other efforts to de-escalate a confrontation fail.

“It’s just a safer way. It’s safer on the inmate. It’s safer on the staff. And most of the time, most of the time we get compliance,” he told the AP. “It’s been a great tool for our facility.”

Homan’s remarks represented the Trump administration’s first public defense of the planned ICE use of the devices. He compared the gloves to other non-lethal tools already available to law enforcement officers, including tasers and pepper spray.

The border czar cautioned, however, that ICE agents will not begin carrying the gloves immediately. He said it would “be awhile” before the equipment is deployed because the agency is still developing the training procedures and protocols that will govern its use.

According to a DHS contracting notice, the electric-shock gloves could begin being distributed to ICE personnel as early as March 2027.

{Matzav.com}