Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed a new bill into into law on Saturday that bans most federal, local, and out-of-state law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings.
The bill, dubbed the No Secret Police Act, prohibits most law enforcement operating in the state, including U.S. ICE agents, from masking while on the job. It includes a few exemptions, such as for SWAT teams and undercover police work, and still allows officers to wear medical masks and gas masks, if necessary.
Penalties for violating the law include either an infraction or misdemeanor, and apply to officers who committed an “assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution” while covering their face, a press release from Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who headed the bill, said.
The new piece of legislation was part of a slate of others signed by Newsom this weekend, most of which are designed to clamp down on the Trump administration‘s immigration operations in the state.
Those include one bill requiring officers to provide identification while conducting operations, two others prohibiting ICE agents from entering schools or health facilities without a warrant, and another requiring schools to notify parents and teachers if ICE agents are on site.
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The bill, dubbed the No Secret Police Act, prohibits most law enforcement operating in the state, including U.S. ICE agents, from masking while on the job. It includes a few exemptions, such as for SWAT teams and undercover police work, and still allows officers to wear medical masks and gas masks, if necessary.
Penalties for violating the law include either an infraction or misdemeanor, and apply to officers who committed an “assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution” while covering their face, a press release from Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who headed the bill, said.
The new piece of legislation was part of a slate of others signed by Newsom this weekend, most of which are designed to clamp down on the Trump administration‘s immigration operations in the state.
Those include one bill requiring officers to provide identification while conducting operations, two others prohibiting ICE agents from entering schools or health facilities without a warrant, and another requiring schools to notify parents and teachers if ICE agents are on site.

Newsom signs bill banning ICE agents from wearing face coverings
The bill, dubbed the No Secret Police Act, prohibits most law enforcement operating in the state from masking while on the job.
