![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776427399_427_SAC_4422_261404_JV_Mendoza.JPG\" "\\"A")
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A protester puts up her poster in front of a Homeland Security vehicle outside of the Matsui Federal Courthouse where the hearing for Carlos Mendoza was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.<\/p>\n
JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS<\/p>\n
jvillegas@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
A California Assembly committee on Wednesday advanced a ban on law enforcement officers from coming near polling places unless they\u2019re responding to a public safety threat \u2014 a bill<\/a> supporters say is designed to insulate the state\u2019s elections from intimidation tactics by federal agencies under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n The bill would make it a felony for anyone wearing insignia or a uniform for any state, local or federal agency to come within the \u201cimmediate vicinity\u201d of a polling place. Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias, D-Martinez, introduced the measure out of concern U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents could hit the streets on election day to ensure only citizens are voting \u2014 and in doing so, intimidate California\u2019s large legal immigrant population away from ballot boxes.<\/p>\n Republicans, and in particular Trump, have for years falsely suggested undocumented immigrants were voting in large numbers in American elections. Some Trump administration officials, however, have dismissed the idea of sending ICE agents to polling places. Federal law has long held that election interference by federal officers, and specifically deploying troops or armed agents during an election, are illegal, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.<\/p>\n But lawmakers at Wednesday\u2019s hearing indicated such laws gave them cold comfort during Trump\u2019s emboldened second term. Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, recalled when notorious ICE commander Gregory Bovino and a group of agents stood outside the location of a rally Gov. Gavin Newsom hosted in Los Angeles to push the redistricting measure, Proposition 50.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that this president would not send ICE agents to intimidate legitimate voters at polling places is laughable,\u201d Berman said. \u201cThis president will do whatever he possibly can to hold on to power.\u201d<\/p>\n (The Trump administration sidelined Bovino amid the backlash over federal agents\u2019 killing of two civilians in Minneapolis, and he has since retired from ICE.)<\/p>\n The bill separately bans ICE agents from stationing themselves near childcare centers while performing immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n The committee\u2019s two Republicans opposed the measure. During a back and forth with his Democratic colleagues that quickly turned testy, Assemblymember James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, questioned the state\u2019s authority to regulate the actions of federal officers and said the Legislature continues to bring bills it can not enforce against ICE agents.<\/p>\n \u201cHave they successfully prosecuted a federal law enforcement officer, the state Department of Justice?\u201d Gallagher asked at one point. Though Gallagher did not get an answer in the committee hearing, there hasn\u2019t been any public case where the state has prosecuted a federal officer for enforcement actions taken during the second Trump administration, though state leaders have said they have the authority to do so if agents break state law.<\/p>\n Legal experts say the state<\/a> has latitude to prohibit certain actions by federal agents but that such measures are largely novel questions of law and will face court challenges from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n In one example of the Legislature\u2019s navigating new territory, on Tuesday the Senate Public Safety Committee advanced a bill that takes last year\u2019s ban on federal agents wearing face masks during operations and expands it to state and local law enforcement officers. That is the Legislature\u2019s answer to a federal judge\u2019s ruling<\/a> that last year\u2019s mask ban was discriminatory because it applied only to federal agents.<\/p>\n Associations for California police departments and sheriff offices have been consistent skeptics of legislation that may be aimed at ICE but winds up putting restrictions on state and local officers.<\/p>\n Avila Farias\u2019 election bill applies its ban on uniformed officers near polling places to state and local law enforcement as well as federal agents, a step she said was necessary after the judge\u2019s ruling on the mask ban. Her bill did not face any opposition from law enforcement associations on Wednesday.<\/p>\n A broad effort aimed at ICE<\/p>\n Across the capitol this month, Democratic-led committees were advancing bills aimed at blunting the federal immigration crackdown over the objections of outnumbered Republican lawmakers. The Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 9-3 to advance a bill blocking state grants or tax credits from going to private prison companies that hold contracts with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to CalMatters\u2019 AI-powered Digital Democracy tool.<\/a><\/p>\n Last week that committee advanced a bill that would ban ICE agents from staging enforcement operations on state property.<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the ICE killings in Minneapolis, both Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Monique Limon called for Democratic lawmakers nationally and at the state level<\/a> to push reforms on DHS. The outstanding question, as the legislative session heats up, is how much appetite Democratic leadership including Newsom will have for bills that may be on shakier legal ground or draw political backlash as an overreaction to ICE, even amid the broad unpopularity of the agency\u2019s tactics,<\/a> and whether there will be an effort to consolidate lawmaker support behind select bills or allow the current free for all to continue.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, lawmakers from the Latino Caucus said they planned to soon meet with Gov. Gavin Newsom about their own legislative priorities, which include at least five measures designed to protect the state\u2019s immigrants amid the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on undocumented people nationwide.<\/p>\n Among them were bills to restrict the use of flash-bang grenades and explosive breaching charges for crowd control and for immigration enforcement and a bill prohibiting ICE agents from arresting people on their way to a court proceeding.<\/p>\n