Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of 21 bills on Tuesday aimed at increasing oversight of federal immigration detention and reining in what he called the “Orwellian” tactics of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.
The enactment of the new laws comes as immigration arrests have soared to new levels, with nearly 50,000 arrests nationwide in July. California had the third-highest number of those arrests, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently expanded detention capacity in the state as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to achieve “mass deportation.”
The wide-ranging laws, authored by Democrats from across the state, included measures to restrict law enforcement use of electroshock gloves, masks and flash-bang grenades, enable individuals to sue federal officials in state court over rights violations and require local agencies to release 911 call records originating from ICE facilities.
Several bills focused on expanding the state’s power to enforce health and safety standards in immigration detention, restrict construction of new detention centers and tax private detention facilities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. (Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images)
In his signing statement, Newsom noted that the underlying authority for immigration enforcement lies with the federal government. But he insisted that facilities in California are subject to the state’s standards and oversight.
“Trump has put his political interests above the health, safety and livelihood of American families,” Newsom said. “California is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state. This is about stepping up where the federal government has failed our communities.”
At a time when the number of people who died in ICE custody hit a two-decade high last year and continues to surge, legal watchdogs are raising alarms about the conditions inside the eight immigration jails in California.
One of the new laws, SB 942, authored by Central Valley Sen. Ana Caballero, creates a bill of rights for people in all forms of civil custody in California, including immigration detention. It establishes minimum standards for medical care, food, water, sanitation, religious practice, contact with family and access to legal counsel. And it gives the state attorney general new powers to enforce those standards.
Hamid Yazdan Panah, co-director of Immigrant Defense Advocates, called it a “first of its kind” law.
Todd Benson, executive director of the multi-denominational community organization Faith in Action East Bay, credited the grassroots efforts of his members and others, who met with lawmakers and wrote letters to the governor, for the passage of the bills.
“We’ve all seen examples of the brutality of ICE agents. This goes against our faith values,” he said. “We believe that all human beings have dignity and should be treated with dignity and respect.”
He said increasing ICE arrests unnecessarily separate families and traumatize California children, and inhumane conditions in detention appear to be a “deliberate effort to get people to self deport.”
A bill from San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney will impose a 25% tax on the gross income of for-profit companies that operate immigration detention facilities — and put the money into a state fund to support immigration services.
Assemblymember Matt Haney speaks during a press conference announcing legislation to increase nightlife in Downtown San Francisco to help the recovery of the neighborhood, in Union Square, San Francisco, on Feb. 18, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Masih Fouladi, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, called it a win for accountability.
“No one should profit from tearing families apart,” Fouladi said. “Private detention corporations make hundreds of millions of dollars every year in California by separating parents from their children and locking up our neighbors in inhumane conditions. AB 1633 makes them pay for the trauma and suffering they inflict.”
He urged the governor to also sign a companion bill, AB 2465, that would bar private detention contractors from receiving state grants or loans.
The move to halt the use of electric shock gloves came as ICE awarded a nearly $17 million contract last month to purchase 6,000 pairs. California sheriffs and other law enforcement groups opposed the ban, which they consider a “less lethal” de-escalation tool.
San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener celebrated the signing of his bill to bar law enforcement officers from wearing masks, as well as another, dubbed the “No Kings Act,” to allow people to sue in state court over allegations that immigration agents have violated their civil rights.
California State Senator Scott Weiner in Sacramento on May 15, 2017. (Bert Johnson/KQED)
He said that’s needed because of cases across the country where immigration agents have violently pulled people from their cars and homes, and have fatally shot both immigrants and U.S. citizens.
“ICE and Border Patrol have terrorized California communities with impunity. That ends today,” Wiener said. “When federal agents act lawlessly, they should be held accountable the same as any other lawbreaker.”
Wiener’s office said they expect a few individuals to file suit shortly under the new law, which takes effect immediately and applies to incidents going back to March 2025.
Meanwhile, legal analysts expect the Trump administration to challenge a number of the new laws in court. Kevin Johnson, an emeritus professor at the UC Davis School of Law, told the Associated Press that courts are likely to rule that the state cannot bar federal officers from wearing shock gloves or face coverings.
“The state has very limited, if any, powers in dictating to the federal government how its officers are armed,” he said.
A few measures passed by the legislature were not among the 21 bills signed. They included a bill — vetoed by Newsom on Sunday night — that would have fortified a pipeline of new immigration lawyers to work in rural parts of California.
Also not signed were bills to cap at 35% the markup private facilities can charge detainees for commissary items, and the one to bar private detention contractors from receiving state grants.
Newsom has until midnight on Sep. 30 to act on the remaining bills on his desk, in his last year as California’s governor.