Judge Strikes Down California Ban on ICE Agents Wearing Masks

In a powerful blow to Governor Gavin Newsom’s war on federal law enforcement, a federal judge ruled Monday that California cannot ban ICE agents from wearing masks during arrests a clear rebuke of the state’s radical attempt to undermine national immigration enforcement.

The ruling, issued by Judge Christina A. Snyder of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, declares that the so-called “No Secret Police Act” is both discriminatory and unconstitutional. The law, signed by Newsom in September, attempted to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to unmask themselves during operations despite a dramatic rise in doxxing campaigns, death threats, and violent assaults targeting federal officers.

Judge Snyder concluded the law violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which bars states from interfering with federal operations, and discriminates against federal officers by singling them out while shielding local and state police.

The statistics are alarming:

• More than 1,000% increase in physical assaults on ICE agents

• Over 8,000% spike in death threats

• Online doxxing networks openly publishing names, faces, and locations of agents

• ICE Watch groups trailing and photographing agents during active operations

Yet Newsom and his allies would rather cater to far-left activists than protect the lives of federal law enforcement officers.

“California does not and cannot have jurisdiction over federal agents,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said after the law passed.

The Department of Homeland Security slammed the legislation as a “flagrant attempt to endanger” federal officers, and for good reason. In Los Angeles alone, ICE operations over the summer drew violent riots, blocked highways, torched vehicles, and saw agents attacked with concrete blocks requiring President Trump to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to restore order.

And what was California’s response? Try to strip ICE agents of their ability to protect themselves with basic anonymity.

Even in her ruling, Judge Snyder took an unnecessary swipe at the Trump administration, claiming ICE “can perform their federal functions without wearing masks.” But despite that jab, the legal conclusion was clear: California’s attempt to override federal authority is unconstitutional.

Senator Scott Weiner, one of the architects of the legislation, immediately vowed to revise the law to include state police, trying to spin the defeat into a “win.”

“To be enforceable it must apply to all levels of police,” Weiner claimed, promising to introduce new legislation to expand the ban.

In other words, Democrats in California are so committed to undermining immigration enforcement that their solution to losing in court is to double down this time by going after their own police forces, too.

This isn’t just bad policy. It’s dangerous. It tells every law-abiding ICE officer that the state of California won’t just fail to protect them it’ll expose them.

Fortunately, the Constitution still matters. And once again, the courts had to remind California’s leadership that no state can declare itself above federal law.

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