{"id":60463,"date":"2025-11-19T16:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T16:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60463\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T16:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T16:03:07","slug":"trump-administration-sues-california-to-keep-federal-law-enforcement-masked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60463\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Sues California to Keep Federal Law Enforcement Masked"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\tLawsuit seeks to block new laws that require visible identification for law enforcement<\/p>\n

The Trump Administration filed a lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0against the State of California over two new laws\u2014Senate Bill 627<\/a>, the No Secret Police Act, and Senate Bill 805<\/a>, the No Vigilantes Act. Both bills were signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 20, 2025, and go into effect on January 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"Alameda<\/a>Stock image by DepositPhotos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SB 627, which goes into effect on January 1, 2026, requires most law enforcement to show visible ID, wear name or badge numbers, and prohibit face coverings except in narrowly defined situations. SB 805 requires ICE, Border Patrol, and Homeland Security agents operating in California to clearly display their agency name and an officer\u2019s name or badge number while conducting operations in the state.<\/p>\n

The new laws \u201ccame in the wake of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration raids in California, when masked, unidentified federal officers jumped out of vehicles this summer as part of the president\u2019s mass deportation program,\u201d according to a Los Angeles Times<\/a> report. Both measures were introduced as a response to the aggressive immigration raids that are often conducted by masked agents in plain clothes and unmarked cars, the report stated.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, contends that the laws violate the Constitution\u2019s Supremacy Clause by attempting to regulate the activities of federal officials.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, which names the state of California, Governor Gavin Newsom, and State Attorney General Rob Bonta as defendants, contends that only the federal government has the authority to control its agents and any requirements about their uniforms. It further argues that federal agents need to conceal their identities at times due to the nature of their work.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Times report quotes U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi as saying, \u201cCalifornia\u2019s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents.\u201d The lawsuit states that federal agents will not comply with either law.<\/p>\n

Yet the FBI issued a special bulletin early in November, warning that criminals are impersonating ICE agents to commit violent crimes and urging actual ICE agents to clearly identify themselves, according to an ABC News report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

State Senator Jesse Arregu\u00edn<\/a>, a co-author of SB 627, issued this statement in response to the Department of Justice lawsuit against California\u2019s new laws: \u201cIt\u2019s deeply concerning that the Trump Administration is suing California for requiring precisely what the FBI is urging.\u201d\u00a0 Arregu\u00edn added that the new laws protect both the public and legitimate officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen armed operatives walk into our communities obscuring their face, badge, and name, the public\u2019s trust is broken\u2014and that poses a risk to everyone,\u201d\u00a0 he said. \u201cThat risk is significantly heightened when there are known impersonators exploiting ICE\u2019s propensity to withhold their identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit asserts that SB 627 and SB 805, \u201care invalid under the Supremacy Clause and their application to the Federal Government should be preliminarily and permanently enjoined.\u201d<\/p>\n

SB 627 co-author Scott Wiener responded to the lawsuit with this comment: \u201cDespite what these would-be authoritarians claim, no one is above the law. We\u2019ll see you in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom previously said it was unacceptable for \u201csecret police\u201d to grab people off the streets, and that the new laws were needed to help the public differentiate between imposters and legitimate federal law officers. However, according to the Times report, he acknowledged that the legislation could use more clarifications about safety gear and other exemptions, and directed lawmakers to work on a follow-up bill next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawsuit seeks to block new laws that require visible identification for law enforcement The Trump Administration filed a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5445,7,9,8,457,36193,36664,36665],"class_list":["post-60463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-alameda","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-jesse-arreguin","tag-senate-bill-627","tag-senate-bill-805"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60463","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=60463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}