LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, a package of laws aimed at protecting immigrants in the state, with the No Secret Police Act being the first measure in the nation to prohibit officers from wearing masks while on duty.
Speaking at a Los Angeles high school, Newsom said he signed five bills into law. The No Secret Police Act bars federal and local law enforcement officers from wearing face masks while performing their duties.
Another law requires state and federal officers to identify themselves by displaying their badge numbers or names while on duty, unless they are working undercover.
The other three measures restrict Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to schools and daycare centers, ban hospitals and health providers from sharing sensitive information or allowing agents into emergency rooms without a warrant, and require family notification when agents appear on school campuses.
“It’s like a dystopian sci-fi movie,” Newsom said. “Unmarked cars, people in masks, people quite literally disappearing. No due process, no rights. Immigrants have rights and we have the right to stand up and push back.”
Response to Trump
The laws were enacted during U.S. President Donald Trump’s deportation program. Newsom later posted on X that the new laws were “a direct response” to Trump’s “lawless immigration raids and arrests in California.”
Democrats in California began drafting the bills soon after Trump took office in January. Their efforts intensified after immigration crackdowns in Southern California sparked weeks of protests in Los Angeles and led to a National Guard deployment.
“All of this legislative resistance is to protect Angelenos from their own federal government. That is profound,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at the event, where she joined Newsom and other local Democratic leaders.
ICE has faced criticism in California for allowing agents to wear masks and plain clothes, citing threats to officers and their families.
“Despicable” laws
In a statement Saturday, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin denounced the new laws as “despicable” and “a flagrant attempt to endanger our officers.”
Legal experts said the measures may provide limited protection and will likely face constitutional challenges from the federal government.
Kevin Johnson, an immigration law professor and former dean of the University of California, Davis School of Law, said the legislation may have only a marginal impact on federal enforcement operations.
He noted that a 2018 California law restricting immigration arrests at court buildings did not stop the Trump administration from detaining people at courts this year.
“The federal government is going to continue doing what it’s doing, in one form or another,” Johnson said. “I do think the legislation gives some hope and optimism to communities that feel under fire, vulnerable and basically hated by the federal government.” / XINHUA