Washington DC - US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will reportedly spend approximately $20 million to purchase gloves designed to deliver electric shocks when used by federal agents.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday published a notice announcing it will purchase thousands of electric gloves for use by immigration agents.

"[ICE] has a requirement to purchase the CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter) a Conductive Distraction and Deescalation Device which will be issued to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) officers and agents," the procurement document said.

Such devices have been used before in US jails, delivering nonlethal but extremely painful shocks to inmates when used.

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According to Compliant Technologies, the Kentucky company which manufactures the devices, the gloves can be used normally by on-duty immigration officers until their electrical mode is switched on.

"The discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks, or scars," the company explains on its website.

John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, likened the device to a bee sting, telling the Associated Press: "It's immediate and sharp, and it will distract you."

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, the American Civil Liberties Union's deputy project director on policing, expressed a complete lack of confidence in ICE to use the devices appropriately.

"ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force," she told the AP. "Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do."

"Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public."