1. United States
2. Ill.
3. Letter

I recently learned about ICE’s reported plans to equip officers with Compliant Technologies’ G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter) devices, and I am horrified. The G.L.O.V.E. is described as a de-escalation tool, but I do not understand how a glove designed to deliver an electrical shock to another human being can reasonably be called “de-escalation.” Inflicting pain—or threatening to inflict pain—to force someone to comply is coercion, not de-escalation. I am also deeply concerned about Compliant Technologies’ e-VEST, a wearable device designed to deliver an electric shock to the person wearing it to compel compliance. The idea that our government could place a device capable of remotely shocking a detained person onto their body is chilling. I want to know what safeguards exist to prevent ICE, DHS, or other federal agencies from acquiring or using this technology. These devices evoke the tools of an authoritarian government, not the practices of a democracy committed to human rights and due process. Our justice system is founded on a fundamental principle: people are entitled to due process and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Being detained by immigration authorities does not make someone guilty of a crime. It certainly does not give the government the right to inflict pain as punishment or as a shortcut to compliance. And this issue should concern Americans regardless of their views on immigration policy. Federal immigration enforcement actions can affect immigrants, lawful residents, and U.S. citizens. Once we accept the principle that government agents may electrically shock people to compel obedience, we have crossed a dangerous line. I am asking you to use your authority as a member of Congress to: - Demand full transparency from ICE and DHS regarding the purchase, testing, authorization, deployment, and use of the G.L.O.V.E. and other electric-shock compliance technologies. - Determine whether ICE or DHS has purchased, tested, considered, or authorized the e-VEST or any similar remotely activated wearable shock device. Prohibit federal funds from being used to purchase or deploy the G.L.O.V.E., e-VEST, or similar devices intended to inflict electrical pain for compliance or punishment. - Support legislation prohibiting federal immigration and law-enforcement personnel from using wearable or remotely activated electric-shock devices to compel compliance. - Demand meaningful congressional oversight before federal agencies are permitted to introduce technologies capable of inflicting electrical pain on detained people. Congress should not wait for horrifying footage of someone being electrically shocked by a federal agent before asking whether the government should possess this power in the first place. **No government agent should be able to electrically punish a person into submission at the press of a button.** Whatever our political disagreements about immigration, there should be some lines we refuse to cross. I believe this should be one of them. Please tell me what you will do to prevent ICE and other federal agencies from using the G.L.O.V.E., e-VEST, or similar electric-shock compliance devices against the people they encounter or detain.