The Justice Department is suing to block two California laws passed in response to the aggressive enforcement tactics immigration officials have used in the state since President Donald Trump returned to office in January.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, contends that two state laws Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September violate the Constitution\u2019s Supremacy Clause by attempting to regulate the activities of federal officials.<\/p>\n
One of the challenged laws, SB 627, forbids federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks as they work. The other, SB 805, requires federal agents who are not in uniform to wear visible identification during operations. Both include exceptions, including for undercover operations.<\/p>\n
Supporters of the laws say they are needed to provide accountability for immigration agents who have used excessive force, made unlawful arrests and threatened citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to protest Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign. Opponents, including top Trump administration officials, say the laws are aimed at making it easier for activists to intimidate federal law enforcement personnel.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaw enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe, and they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “California\u2019s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand.”<\/p>\n
In its 16-page complaint<\/a>, the Trump administration says that it \u201cwill not comply\u201d with the state statutes. However, Justice Department lawyers say the measures \u2014 which take effect Jan. 1 \u2014 \u201chave the purpose and likely effect of impeding federal law enforcement in the State of California\u201d by causing federal officers to fear they could face prosecution in state courts.<\/p>\n \u201cIf enforced against the Federal Government, the laws would recklessly endanger the lives of federal agents and their family members and compromise the operational effectiveness of federal law enforcement activities,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Trump administration cared half as much about public safety as it does about pardoning cop-beaters, violating people\u2019s rights, and detaining U.S. citizens and their kids, our communities would be much safer,” a spokesperson for Newsom said. “We’ll see the U.S. Department of Justice in court.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s problematic when Californians can\u2019t tell the difference between a law enforcement officer who is charged with protecting them and a criminal who is attempting to cause them harm,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “The FBI itself has warned that the practice of ICE agents wearing masks to obscure their identity has led to a rise in copycats committing crimes, threatening public safety and eroding trust in law enforcement. My office is responsible for defending the laws of California, and we will do so here.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s complaint notes that in June Newsom cast doubt on the legal validity of the legislation under discussion at that time. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at the constitutionality of it. And it appears that we don\u2019t have the legal authority for federal agents,\u201d Newsom said during an interview with podcaster Justin Kanew<\/a>.<\/p>\n California and federal officials have been at loggerheads in court over immigration-related policies for years. Earlier this year, Newsom sued unsuccessfully to block Trump from deploying National Guard troops to protect immigration enforcement operations and federal buildings in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n California has also joined an Oregon lawsuit against Trump\u2019s attempt to use National Guard soldiers to control anti-ICE protests in Portland. That case has effectively halted use of the troops for weeks, reportedly prompting the administration to move to return 200 California troops<\/a> to their home state.<\/p>\n In 2018, during Trump\u2019s first term, the Justice Department sued California<\/a> over three sanctuary-related state laws. An appeals court ruled<\/a> that two of the three laws were likely constitutional but told a district court judge to reexamine one of the statutes. The Trump administration appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court<\/a>, but it declined to take up the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Justice Department is suing to block two California laws passed in response to the aggressive enforcement tactics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[35329,7,9,8,536,15609,7337,15855,457,4515,734,17432],"class_list":["post-57479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-aggressive-enforcement-tactics","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-federal-agents","tag-federal-court","tag-federal-law-enforcement","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-justice-department","tag-law-enforcement","tag-law-enforcement-officers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57479","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=57479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}