California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the No Secret Police Act into law this week, banning all law enforcement — including federal immigration agents — from covering their faces while conducting raids in the state.
“What this law is trying to do is to take us back from the era of routine masking based on completely foundationless officer claims of fear,” says Eva Bitran, the director of immigrants’ rights at the ACLU of Southern California.
Trump administration officials have already vowed to ignore the California law, “and this is why we need to have a federal solution that will apply nationwide,” says New York Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, who has introduced the No Masks for ICE Act in Congress. “This administration is out of control, and it’s affecting everyone.”