{"id":170478,"date":"2025-09-20T21:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T21:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170478\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T21:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T21:30:07","slug":"newsom-signs-new-ca-laws-to-resist-trump-immigration-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/170478\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom signs new CA laws to resist Trump immigration crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cayla Mihalovich<\/a> and Jeanne Kuang<\/a>, CalMatters<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\""A\"
\n\t\t\t\tGov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the media at Downey Memorial Christian Church after visiting Los Angeles communities affected by immigration raids, in Downey on July 16, 2025. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> today signed a set of bills meant to check the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive immigration crackdown in California, including a first-in-the nation measure to prohibit officers from wearing masks and others that limit their access to schools and hospitals. <\/p>\n

The new laws echo the \u201cresistance\u201d measures California adopted during the first administration, when it passed a so-called sanctuary law<\/a> to limit local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration agents, among other policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigrants have rights and we have the right to stand up and push back,\u201d Newsom said at an event in Los Angeles where he signed the legislation.<\/p>\n

President Trump<\/a> promised a historic deportation effort and assault on sanctuary-style policies<\/a> when he took office for the second time. His administration criticized the state\u2019s new immigration laws even before Newsom signed them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security earlier this week called on Newsom to veto the mask bill<\/a> \u2014 one of the more contentious pieces of immigration legislation \u2014 calling it \u201cdespicable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again sanctuary politicians are trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers,\u201d said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a Sept. 16 press release.<\/p>\n

California may struggle to enforce the new laws, some of which have already raised constitutional questions around the state\u2019s role in federal operations, but lawmakers maintain that they are legally defensible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California political consultant Mike Madrid said in signing the laws Newsom is showing that he can stand up and fight, whether or not he has a chance of winning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this moment, when there are very few cards to play for state governments and state legislatures, California has done what no other state has done: establish itself as the tip of the spear on resisting a lot of these efforts that are an affront to its values,\u201d said Madrid, a longtime Republican consultant who co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c99% of this is the purview of the federal government. So a lot of it is just symbolic, but symbolism matters. It\u2019s both politically astute but also morally right,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The package of bills Newsom signed included:<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 49<\/a> prohibits schools from allowing immigration enforcement officers on campus without a warrant.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 627<\/a> widely prohibits federal and local law enforcement officers from wearing face masks while conducting their duties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 805<\/a> requires that law enforcement officers identify themselves while conducting their duties, with some exceptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 81<\/a> prohibits immigration enforcement from entering restricted areas of a health facility without a judicial warrant or court order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 98<\/a> requires schools and higher education institutions to send community notifications when immigration enforcement is on campus, and prohibits immigration enforcement from entering certain areas without a judicial warrant or court order.<\/p>\n

California Democrats began drafting immigration-related bills almost as soon Trump took office in January. Those efforts accelerated after the Trump administration launched aggressive immigration sweeps<\/a> throughout Los Angeles, which led to weeks of protests and a subsequent National Guard deployment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“All of this legislative resistance is to protect Angelenos from their own federal government. That is profound,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference with Newsom and other Democratic leaders.<\/p>\n

Will the laws make a difference?<\/p>\n

Kevin Johnson, an immigration law professor and former dean of the UC Davis School of Law, said the legislation may have a marginal impact on federal immigration enforcement operations.<\/p>\n

In 2018, for instance, California passed a law to restrict immigration arrests at superior court buildings<\/a>. That hasn\u2019t stopped the Trump administration from detaining people at those courts<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government is going to continue doing what it\u2019s doing, in one form or another,\u201d he said. \u201cI do think the legislation gives some hope and optimism to communities that feel under fire, vulnerable and basically hated by the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director at California Immigrant Policy Center, remains hopeful that the package of bills will ensure safety for people attending school and accessing health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith most laws, there has to be really vigorous monitoring, both by the state as well as by advocates to ensure that it\u2019s truly being implemented and followed,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California police opposed mask ban<\/p>\n

The most controversial bill in the package was Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener\u2019s proposal to widely ban federal and local law enforcement officers from wearing face masks while conducting their duties<\/a>. The law, also known as the \u201cNo Secret Police Act,\u201d does not apply to certain forms of face coverings, such as face shields, and it exempts some officers, including those who are undercover. Officers who violate the law will face an infraction or misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

Wiener and Democratic Sens. Jesse Arregu\u00edn, Sasha P\u00e9rez and Aisha Wahab championed the legislation after seeing footage of masked and unidentifiable agents<\/a> carrying out operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE\u2019s recklessness creates chaos as agents run around with what are effectively ski masks and no identification, grabbing people, throwing them in unmarked vehicles, and disappearing them,\u201d Wiener of San Francisco said at a legislative hearing in August. \u201cWhen law enforcement officers hide their identities, it destroys community trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

California\u2019s law enforcement groups widely opposed the bill, arguing it will largely apply to local police, rather than federal agents, because the federal government is likely to sue on constitutional grounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s using an emotionally charged issue on a federal level to pass a bill that will only affect local peace officers,” said Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, an umbrella labor organization that lobbies on behalf of police unions. “You’re upset with the feds, but you’re going to punish us.”<\/p>\n

Other law enforcement experts echoed those concerns, arguing that it\u2019s illegal to interfere with federal operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia cops are not going to enforce this law,\u201d said Ed Obayashi, a longtime California police officer who now is a special prosecutor and policy adviser to the Modoc County Sheriff\u2019s Office. \u201cYou cannot regulate lawful federal conduct, whether the Legislature likes it or not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The law allows officers to be sued personally for \u201ctortious conduct,\u201d including if they assault or falsely arrest someone while masked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPrivate enforcement could be the avenue where enforcement is the likeliest,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n

The bill caused hours of contentious debate on the Senate and Assembly floors, with many Republicans calling it misguided.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“My immigrant family is not afraid” of ramped-up immigration enforcement, Fresno Republican Assemblymember David Tangipa said, “because we did not break the law.”<\/p>\n

But Democrats were animated because just days before, the U.S. Supreme Court had sided with the Trump administration and ICE for conducting roving sweeps through Los Angeles<\/a>, apparently catching bystander day laborers or anyone who appeared Latino in their dragnet. The bill, they said, was their way of pushing back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a full front defense for the violence that is coming from this regime,\u201d said Hector Pereyra, policy manager for the nonprofit Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, which co-sponsored the mask bill and another bill to protect the private data of street vendors<\/a>. \u201cWe have to respond with a united front of strength and aggressiveness, not of passiveness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cayla Mihalovich is a California Local News fellow.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Cayla Mihalovich and Jeanne Kuang, CalMatters Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the media at Downey Memorial Christian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[13618,12,2013,97,252,253,790,3031],"class_list":{"0":"post-170478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-california-legislature","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-gavin-newsom","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-health-care","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-immigration","15":"tag-los-angeles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}