In the moments before Border Patrol officers shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last week, they pepper sprayed him in the face as he tried to protect a fellow protestor. Shocking photos have circulated showing how ICE agents have aggressively used the substance, which is considered a non-lethal chemical weapon, to control crowds protesting the Trump administration’s increasingly violent immigration crackdown.

Both pepper spray and tear gas can incapacitate people by causing searing burning pain and making it difficult to breathe. According to government contracting records, the government largely buys them from a small group of little known companies. Over the last year, these companies have signed deals for chemical weapons and equipment with ICE, and their largest ever contract with CBP, Border Patrol’s parent agency.

Quantico Tactical, a weapons and armor distributor based in Aberdeen, North Carolina, is by far the biggest supplier of chemical weapons to ICE and CBP during Trump’s second term, per contracting records. Founded by North Carolina-based David Hensley, a former Marine Corps major, it has sold $4.7 million of tear gas........

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