California Democrats race to ban electric shock gloves before ICE buys them

California lawmakers are advancing a last-minute bill to ban federal immigration agents from using electric shock gloves, responding to reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to purchase thousands of the devices next year.

Assembly Bill 2760, introduced by San Diego Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins, would prohibit ICE agents and state and local officers in California from wearing any device capable of delivering electric shocks. The bill would also block police departments from using state funds to purchase such equipment. The legislation was fast-tracked through a process known as a “gut and amend,” in which an unrelated bill was rewritten and expedited with days remaining in the legislative session.

The move follows a Department of Homeland Security notice earlier this month that ICE is seeking to spend up to $20 million to buy thousands of taser-like gloves from Compliant Technologies, a Kentucky-based company. The product, called G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), is marketed as a non-lethal, de-escalation tool. On Thursday, ICE awarded the company a $16.7 million contract for 6,000 pairs of gloves.

Sharp-Collins cited public safety concerns, pointing to the case of a Kentucky man who died last year after allegedly being shocked 27 times with the gloves and 13 times with a Taser while in jail. “Waiting for a tragedy to act, in my personal opinion, and so many others, would be something that California could not handle,” she said at a hearing Wednesday.

Civil rights organizations have voiced strong support for the bill, arguing that the gloves represent an inhumane and excessive use of force. “Electroshock gloves by any law enforcement agency makes Californians less safe,” said Anallely Martin of the California Immigrant Policy Center at the hearing.

However, law enforcement groups, including the California State Sheriffs’ Association, oppose the measure, contending it would unnecessarily restrict officers’ ability to de-escalate dangerous situations. “This is a bad policy from a California law enforcement perspective, and it’s really only gonna be a message to the feds that’s going to fail to land,” said the association’s lobbyist Cory Salzillo at the hearing.

The development is part of a broader effort by California Democrats to limit ICE’s operations in the state amid President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. This week, lawmakers also passed bills to ban federal agents from working with state and local police agencies and to make it easier for people to sue agents for civil rights violations. Earlier this year, a federal court struck down a 2025 law requiring masked immigration agents to identify themselves, ruling that California overstepped its authority in regulating federal officers.

Legal experts suggest similar legal challenges could face the new bills. “States simply can’t regulate how federal officers do their jobs, even if we don’t like how they do their jobs. That’s up to the federal government,” said Vikram Amar, a law professor at UC Davis. Without a clear constitutional violation, such legislation may have little legal weight, he added. “It makes a lot of bills like this kind of more performative than real.”

With the legislative session nearing its end, the fate of AB 2760 remains uncertain as lawmakers weigh its immediate passage against potential legal and political consequences.