{"id":453907,"date":"2026-09-05T00:16:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T00:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/453907\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T00:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T00:16:25","slug":"nick-shirley-sues-california-over-law-shielding-information-of-immigration-support-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/453907\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Shirley sues California over law shielding information of immigration support workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supporters of the citizen journalist have called Assembly Bill 2624 the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act.’<\/p>\n

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) \u2014 Right-wing influencer Nick Shirley sued California<\/a>on Friday over a newly passed law he claims targets his investigatory work into fraud permeating government-funded programs.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the \u201cStop Nick Shirley Act\u201d by Shirley supporters, the law adds immigration support service providers to California\u2019s Safe at Home program, which allows qualifying people to use a confidential address in public records. The program also covers victims of sexual assault, stalking and child abduction, among others.<\/p>\n

Shirley says the law could impose liability for publishing or revealing certain personal information about immigration service providers, even if obtained lawfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Amendment does not allow the government to silence truthful reporting because it is controversial, inconvenient, or politically disfavored,\u201d Shirley says, adding: \u201cIn practical terms, the law places a target on all the investigative reporting Mr. Shirley conducts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shirley asks a federal judge to declare the law a violation of the First and 14th amendments and stop California from enforcing it.<\/p>\n

Shirley rose to national prominence reporting on suspected fraud involving government-funded entities. He says he has nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers, 1.7 million followers on X and 3.2 million on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Shirley says his reporting in December uncovered more than $100 million in fraud involving Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota. He has also investigated Armenian-run hospices, Somali-run daycares and immigration issues in California.<\/p>\n

He says he advocates for investigating and eliminating fraud and abuse in government-funded programs, emphasizing the role immigration could play in those issues.<\/p>\n

Shirley says California\u2019s pushback began early this year after he announced on social media that he had arrived in the state.<\/p>\n

Days later, Governor Gavin Newsom said San Diego\u2019s Somali community felt \u201cunder siege\u201d after \u201cright-wing provocateurs\u201d arrived. Three days later, Attorney General Rob Bonta called fraud accusations in California reckless and ridiculous, Shirley says.<\/p>\n

Then, on Feb. 20, Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat and Rob Bonta\u2019s wife, introduced Assembly Bill 2624<\/a>, dubbed the \u201cStop Nick Shirley Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law, effective Oct. 1, 2027, prohibits the public display or distribution of program participants\u2019 information upon receipt of a written demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy extending the Safe at Home Program protections, the bill allows eligible participants to keep their personal information confidential in public records, helping reduce exposure to harm while supporting the continued delivery of legal, social, and humanitarian services,\u201d Mia Bonta said in a bill analysis.<\/p>\n

Shirley says he plans to keep investigating and reporting on people and groups considered immigration-support services under the new law. That law will chill his speech. There\u2019s uncertainty about whether the information he publishes about immigration services will lead to civil liability.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Shirley faces a credible and objectively reasonable threat of enforcement under AB 2624,\u201d he says. \u201cThe statute authorizes covered individuals to bring an action for injunctive or declaratory relief and for money damages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the law, Shirley says he\u2019s stopped his investigative reporting because of the threat of civil liability. That means he faces an ongoing injury that affects his speech \u2014 a claim that\u2019s ripe for the courts despite the law\u2019s Oct. 1, 2027, implementation date.<\/p>\n

The law\u2019s provisions are fixed, Shirley adds, and he must choose now whether to continue his reporting before he\u2019s trapped in what he terms \u201ca completed statutory scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m suing California&mldr;\u201d Shirley stated Friday on his X account. \u201cCalifornia has decided to push for less transparency and create laws that penalize citizens and journalists for looking into potential fraud inside \u2018immigration support services providers.\u2019 A written demand is all it takes to stop the publishing of a video in California. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Bonta\u2019s office, in a statement to Courthouse News, said it knew of the lawsuit and would respond in court.<\/p>\n

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\nsports, Big Tech and the arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Supporters of the citizen journalist have called Assembly Bill 2624 the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act.’ SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-453907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}