US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers may soon be equipped with gloves that can deliver electric shocks as they carry out their law enforcement duties.

ICE plans to spend up to $20m (£14.8m) to buy the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (GLOVE), according to a note published on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The gloves can deliver up to 380 volts of electricity, roughly three times the charge of a standard US power outlet.

"ICE is constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country," the DHS said in a statement to the BBC.

"Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilises is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards," it added.

Compliant Technologies LLC, which makes the gloves, told the BBC it was unable to comment on the sale. A no-bid purchase contract could be published as early as Friday, DHS said.

The GLOVE devices are activated by pushing a button to deliver shocks and can deliver up to 30 pulses per second. They also feature built-in microprocessors that keep a record of activation. Compliant Technologies states on its website that they do not cause injury and are used by many agencies.

A user manual on the company's website recommends avoiding use on the elderly, small children, pregnant women and the "severely handicapped", as well as that an additional officer be present to restrain the subject while the gloves are being used.

The GLOVE manual states that the device must come in contact with a subject's skin but will function through thin clothing layers when wet.

It says users should undergo training and be recertified every two years and also asks users to take into consideration their experience and comfort level with the technology, the intended subject's actions and behaviour when interacting with officers, and the risk/benefit associated with "any level of given force".

"It is not intended to compete with or replace any existing tool but to supplement existing weapons and tools within an agency's policies and TTPs [tactics, techniques and procedures]," the manual states.

According to the DHS note, GLOVE would be used by officers and agents in Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which targets transnational criminal organisations, and Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO), which is responsible for arresting, detaining and deporting people who violate immigration laws in the US.

Some law enforcement agencies are already using the gloves but it's believed that the planned ICE purchase would be the largest from Compliant Technologies to date.

Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have expressed alarm about law enforcement using them.

"ICE spent the last year showing this country that they are willing to disregard the law and are too quick to use force, with devastating and at times fatal consequences for citizens and noncitizens alike," said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director on policing at the ACLU.

The agency has faced scrutiny over deaths that have occurred during immigration enforcement activity.

Recent incidents include the fatal shooting of Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas, while Colombian national Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was killed during an immigration enforcement operation in Maine.

ICE has also been under pressure to deliver President Donald Trump's deportation agenda, which includes meeting a daily target of arrests.

"Now they [ICE] might be equipped with a device that allows them to deliver an electric shock with their hands by pushing a small button, in a move that might be imperceptible to those watching," Borchetta said.

"Giving immigration agents a concealed means of delivering terrible pain is a recipe for more harm to the public and less accountability."