\n<\/p>\n
Federal agents walk down a street while conducting immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, Feb. 5, 2026.<\/span>Ryan Murphy\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last week, <\/span>DHS finalized its $16.7 million purchase<\/a> of 6,650 pairs of electric shock gloves from the Kentucky-based company Compliant Technologies. That comes out to about $2,400 per pair<\/a>, plus some accessories like glove fresheners in case the ICE agents wearing these direct contact electroshock weapons get sweaty.\u00a0<\/p>\n Almost as quickly as the contract was finalized, pushback reached the legislative branch in a classic Congressional form: a whole bunch of open letters. A group of Senators wrote to interim ICE director David Venturella on August 27, asking him whether there will be any tracking of how these gloves are used. Members of the House Committee on Homeland Security wrote a similar letter August 31. And on that same day, a group of 49 Democratic members of Congress led by Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin<\/a> demanding that he cancel the shock gloves contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision to equip civil immigration enforcement agents with electric shock gloves continues a deeply disturbing escalation in the militarization of DHS \u2014 as well as sustained efforts to shield itself from accountability,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. Their letter cites Mother Jones<\/em> reporting<\/a> on how police departments use the gloves to inflict pain while avoiding legal liability.<\/a> \u201cThis Administration continues to outfit ICE and CBP with the tools of an occupying paramilitary force\u2014despite widespread human rights violations carried out by its agents during immigration enforcement actions.\u201d <\/p>\n As I reported<\/a> last month, human rights organizations suggest that the gloves are not, as Compliant Technologies says on its website, \u201chumane.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The technology is unregulated \u201cdespite the clear human rights risks associated with its use,\u201d Amnesty International researchers wrote in a 2025 report detailing instances in which electric-shock devices have been used for torture. The report ends with a recommendation that countries \u201ccease use of, decommission and destroy any stockpiles of such prohibited electric shock weapons.\u201d Yumna Rizvi, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Victims of Torture, called the gloves \u201cinherently abusive equipment that facilitates torture.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n On the state and local level, police departments are facing angry communities demanding they cancel their contracts with Compliant Technologies. In Nebraska\u2019s largest school district, after reporting by Nebraska Public Media<\/a> revealed that school resource officers had used the devices on students<\/a>, Omaha police were forced to stop wearing shock gloves in the halls of middle and high schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n In California, meanwhile, a bill banning law enforcement operating in the state from using wearable electroshock devices<\/a> passed the legislature Monday night. The ban extends through 2030 and requires the state Department of Justice to study the weapons\u2019 safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cImagine your family, your friends and loved ones or even yourself being incapacitated by federal, state or local law enforcement who do not have the necessary training to ensure that you don\u2019t suffer from adverse health effects due to being shocked,\u201d said California Democratic Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins, who sponsored the bill, in an Aug. 26 Senate committee hearing.<\/a><\/p>\n The Sacramento Sheriff\u2019s Department is the only California agency known to have purchased Compliant Technologies\u2019 shock gloves. In August, it spent $35,000 on 10 pairs, as well as 10 shock bands to be placed on a detained person\u2019s arm or wrist, as the Sacramento Bee<\/em> reported.<\/a> That sheriff\u2019s department opposes the ban, as do numerous other law enforcement agencies. \u201cThis is a bad policy from a California law enforcement perspective, and it\u2019s really only gonna be a message to the feds that\u2019s going to fail to land,\u201d California State Sheriffs\u2019 Association lobbyist Cory Salzillo said at an August 26 hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bill is expected to face legal challenges from the federal government. \u201cSanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from any safety equipment is despicable and a deliberate attempt to undermine and endanger our officers,\u201d a DHS spokesperson told Mother Jones.<\/em> \u201cTo be crystal clear: we will not abide by unconstitutional bans. The Supremacy Clause makes it clear that California\u2019s sanctuary politicians do not control federal law enforcement.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n