Gavin Newsom signs bills limiting ICE contact and law enforcement masking in CA
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Saturday limiting federal immigration officials’ operations at California schools and hospitals and banning law enforcement agents from hiding their identities including by using masks.
For months, California has been at the center of the White House’s escalated immigration agenda as agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have stormed job sites, Home Depot parking lots, courtrooms, and a campaign rally throughout the state in a show of force to deport suspected immigrants.
Speaking from a high school in Los Angeles, Newsom said he was signing five bills into law that will limit schools and daycare facilities from admitting ICE officials; restrict hospitals and health care facilities from sharing sensitive information and ban agents from entering emergency rooms without a warrant; require family notification when agents appear on school campuses; and require law enforcement officials to display their badge numbers or names for identification.
“It’s like a dystopian sci-fi movie,” Newsom said. “Unmarked cars, people in masks, people quite literally disappearing. No due process, no rights.”
ICE has drawn criticism for allowing agents to don face-concealing masks and plain clothes, citing claims of increased threats to officers and their families.
In an emailed statement, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin called the legislation signed into law by Newsom “despicable” and “a flagrant attempt to endanger our officers.”
“The men and women at CBP, ICE, and all of our federal law enforcement agencies put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens,” McLaughlin’s statement continued, in part. “Make no mistake, this type of rhetoric is contributing to the surge in assaults of officers through their repeated vilification and demonization.”
In a separate statement released Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security had encouraged Newsom to veto the bill, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco.
“When our heroic law enforcement officers conduct operations,” the Department of Homeland Security statement read, in part, “they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by highly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, criminal rings, murderers, and rapists.”
During Saturday’s news conference, Newsom said the masking is “unnecessary” and encouraged the Department of Homeland Security to legislate a solution if doxing is a concern.
“There’s an assertion that somehow there’s exponential increase in assaults on officers,” said Newsom. “But they will not provide the data.”
California is the first state to pass a law banning masks, which will make it a crime for law enforcement officers to conceal their identities unless they are undercover or wearing personal protective gear beginning in January 2026. That includes local, state and federal officials operating in California.
Newsom cited support from the Legislature’s Latino and Asian-American Pacific Islander caucuses, as well as former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser, for the legislation, which he said was aimed at stopping President Donald Trump and federal immigration czar Stephen Miller’s “secret police tactics.”
Addressing ICE agents, Newsom said: “You’re going to do enforcement? Provide an ID. Tell us which agency you represent. Provide us basic information that all local law enforcement is required to provide.”
Since June, California has been in a protracted legal battle with the White House after the Pentagon seized control of the National Guard and sent Marines to quell anti-deportation protests in Southern California.
Earlier this month, a judge ruled that Trump’s seizure of the California National Guard was illegal, which the administration has appealed. The same week, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling that had barred immigration agents from detaining people based on their perceived ethnicity, language and job site, allowing them to continue their enforcement actions.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Saturday praised California state lawmakers for spearheading the “legislative resistance.”
“Unfortunately, our federal government is trying to get us to normalize and accept military intervention and the hunting of Latinos,” she said. “I look forward to the day that we no longer have to protect ourselves and fight our own government.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Gavin Newsom signs bills limiting ICE contact and law enforcement masking in CA."
