ACTION ALERT: States Must Investigate
ICE Abuse and Stop These Shock Gloves
National Campaign for Justice / Action Network
(August 15, 2026) —Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security wants to put electric shock devices directly on ICE agents’ hands. DHS is considering spending up to $20 million on specialized gloves that can deliver a painful electric shock with the push of a button, allowing an agent to inflict pain simply by grabbing someone.
The manufacturer markets the G.L.O.V.E. as a tool for gaining compliance. It activates in about a second, works through direct contact with skin, and is specifically designed to interfere with coordinated muscle movement. Even the manufacturer warns that it should not be used as punishment, in response to verbal defiance, or against children, pregnant people, older people, and people with severe disabilities.
Now imagine putting that device into the hands of agents whose use of force is already under national scrutiny. This week in Virginia, videos showed a masked federal agent pointing a gun at U.S. citizen Carolina Molina through her car window while agents accused her of trying to run them over. The videos reviewed by the New York Time sshowed no indication that she had tried to harm them, and she was never charged.
States do not have to stand by and wait for someone to be shocked. State legislators can act to prohibit these devices and strengthen protections against excessive force.
State Attorneys General can investigate ICE conduct and pursue civil or criminal accountability when federal agents violate state law and act outside the protection afforded to lawful federal duties. Federal agents do not have blanket immunity for plainly unjustified violence or other unreasonable conduct.
The Trump administration wants us to believe these gloves will somehow “de-escalate” encounters. But ICE would be giving agents a device specifically designed to inflict pain, one that can be activated almost instantly and used without the obvious warning created by drawing a Taser or another visible weapon.
And ICE’s badge is not a free pass. Supremacy Clause immunity can protect federal agents performing lawful duties when their actions are reasonable and connected to those duties. It does not automatically shield plainly unjustified violence. States can investigate what happened, preserve evidence, determine whether state laws were violated, and pursue accountability when the facts support it.
New York leaders are already showing what resistance can look like. Attorney General Letitia James is reviewing the shock-glove proposal and has vowed action if ICE agents harm New Yorkers with the devices. Gov. Kathy Hochul has said the devices raise serious civil rights concerns and that New York’s recently enacted protections should be used to hold agents accountable. Other states should be preparing to do the same.
We should not need another video of an agent pulling a gun on a civilian, another excessive-force investigation, or another death before state leaders act. Legislators must close gaps in state law before these devices are deployed, and Attorneys General must investigate federal agents who terrorize communities under the cover of a badge.
Thank you for standing up against abuse of power,
LeeAnn Hall
Director, National Campaign for Justice
