California Governor Gavin Newsom signed five controversial bills into law Saturday aimed squarely at restricting the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents within the state — including a first-in-the-nation ban on federal law enforcement officers wearing masks during raids.
The move, immediately hailed by pro-sanctuary activists and slammed by federal officials, marks a dramatic escalation in California’s ongoing war against federal immigration enforcement.
According to a press release from Newsom’s office, the legislation makes it “less likely that federal immigration enforcement officers target children in classrooms and patients in hospitals,” and prohibits federal agents from concealing their identities, including through the use of masks.
“ICE agents have wrongfully arrested citizens, concealed their identities, and undermined transparency,” the governor’s office stated. “They dismantled rules that once kept enforcement away from schools, hospitals, and churches, fueling student absences and eroding community trust.”
Under the new law:
Federal law enforcement agents operating in California — including ICE — must display identifying information like badge numbers or names.
Masks are barred unless “absolutely necessary,” though the law does not define what conditions would meet that standard.
Immigration enforcement in schools and hospitals will be subject to new barriers, including requiring notification of families and judicial warrants to enter non-public areas of hospitals.
Any immigration-related information collected in a healthcare setting is now explicitly protected as medical information under California privacy law.
Newsom delivered the announcement just hours after taunting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on social media, posting to X that she was about to have “a bad day.” The post reportedly prompted Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli to refer the matter to the U.S. Secret Service for threat assessment.
The legislation’s enforcement mechanisms remain unclear, especially since it attempts to place state-level restrictions on federal officers. However, state officials indicated they would pursue civil penalties and potentially restrict cooperation between local agencies and any federal body deemed noncompliant.
Critics slammed the move as a reckless attempt to shield illegal immigrants at the expense of national security. ICE agents have long relied on anonymity to conduct operations involving cartel operatives, violent felons, and human traffickers — often facing credible threats to their safety.
Yet Newsom framed the issue as one of “true public safety,” not immigration.
“Our places of learning and healing must never be turned into the hunting grounds this federal administration has tried to make them out to be,” he said. “No family should ever have to carry that weight. California is choosing true public safety.”
The new law further cements California’s status as the most aggressively anti-ICE state in the nation, drawing sharp battle lines between the Golden State and the Trump administration’s renewed immigration crackdown.
The post Gavin Newsom Signs Anti-ICE Bill Banning Federal Law Enforcement From Wearing Masks appeared first on Real News Now.
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