FILE - Image of Omaha Police Officer Jason Cvitanov points out the contact pads on the Compliant Technologies G.L.O.V.E. during an interview at Omaha Police Headquarters embedded in an image of ICE officers detaining a person. (ICE/Getty Images)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) moved forward with purchasing 6,000 pairs of gloves that deliver an electric shock to control detainees and protesters who resist arrest.
Millions of dollars spent on electric shock gloves
Dig deeper:
ICE awarded a $16.7 million contract to Compliant Technologies LLC, a Kentucky-based firm that manufactures them.
The contract includes 6,000 gloves, support equipment and services over the next six months.
The devices are normal patrol gloves until an officer presses a button to activate the electrical mode.
They must be applied directly to someone’s skin to produce a shock that causes pain, which is promoted as a way to gain compliance from people who are resisting.
They have been used by some local jails and police departments in recent years.
RELATED: Police face backlash for using electric shock gloves in Nebraska schools
ICE said officers would use them in "high-tension environments," including while making arrests, transporting combative detainees and responding to civil disturbances outside detention facilities.
"It will be used when a subject is actively or passively resisting and an officer needs to gain control quickly to prevent injuries to both parties," a notice from ICE stated.
Lawmakers push back
The other side:
ICE purchased the gloves just hours after a group of U.S. senators, led by Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, urged the agency to cancel its plan to buy the gloves.
In a letter to ICE's acting director Thursday, Cortez Masto and 15 of her colleagues in the Democratic caucus questioned ICE's need for the devices.
What they're saying:
"The blatant and tragic misuse of force in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, Maine, and other locations around the country raises significant skepticism about the agency’s professional capability to safely deploy a new tool that could be used to harm Americans without cause," the letter said.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated press and previous reporting by LiveNOW from FOX.