The Trump administration wants to spend $220 million to arm immigration agents with about 17,800 new Tasers, a massive increase from the current 4,300 in the field.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to buy the Tasers and unlimited cartridges and to obtain training for the agents. The plan for a five-year contract is outlined in a federal government’s contracting database entry from Feb. 24.
It could be a major boon to Axon, the company that manufactures Tasers, which spent nearly $2.5 million last year lobbying Congress to buy its products for law enforcement, according to disclosure reports. That is the biggest sum the company has ever spent on lobbying efforts, according to OpenSecrets.