DHS won’t comply with CA mask ban targeting ICE, federal officers

by Deported.news Staff | September 24, 2025

Federal agents working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have been told to ignore a new California law prohibiting them from wearing masks while on duty.

On Saturday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the No Secret Police Act into law after it was passed by the California Legislature early this month. DHS “vehemently condemns” the measure and called the law unconstitutional.

“This was just something they could use to posture and attack our ICE law enforcement officers,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a posting on X. “That’s what is so irresponsible about it.”

Trump officials called on Newsom to veto the legislation, but he continues to play politics as he gears up for an expected 2028 presidential run. Newsom’s Press Office posted a cryptic message on social media Saturday, stating: “Kristi Noem is going to have a bad day today. You’re welcome, America.”

The law specifically targets U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and other federal officers, who often wear masks to protect their identity when conducting raid operations or executing search warrants.

In another posting on X, DHS said “We will NOT comply with Gavin Newsom’s unconstitutional mask ban,” adding that ICE agents are facing a “1,000% increase in assaults.

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said it “strips law enforcement of protections in a disgusting, diabolical fundraising and PR stunt.”

The law was intentionally enacted to push back against immigration enforcement efforts in California. But Trump officials say not so fast. A California law cannot override federal authority.

“The State of California has no jurisdiction over the federal government,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli. “If Newsom wants to regulate our agents, he must go through Congress.”

Essayli made his rounds on the news and took to social media to make it clear he has directed federal agencies to ignore the ban, adding that the law signed today has “no effect on our operations.”

“When can we expect CA to pass a law banning Antifa members from wearing masks while committing state and federal crimes? I’ll wait…” he wrote in a post on X.

On Monday, DHS issued a news release highlighting some of the most violent criminal illegal aliens taken off the streets since Jan. 20. DHS denounced the law and Newsom’s sanctuary policies that protect criminals at the expense of California residents.

“Governor Gavin Newsom is fanning the flames of division, hatred and dehumanization of our law enforcement,” McLaughlin said. “He signed this piece of legislation the same day his team made a menacing threat against Secretary Kristi Noem online.”

DHS officials predict the law will be struck down under the Constitution’s supremacy clause. They accuse Newsom, a sanctuary politician and illegal immigrant sympathizer, of standing with gang members, murderers, pedophiles and terrorists over law enforcement.

Federal agents have been under siege and face growing violence from lawmakers, activists, rioters, criminal cartel members and illegal immigrants who resist arrest.

The law clearly puts ICE agents and their families at risk, DHS said. They wear masks to protect their identities to keep them from being “targeted by cartels, criminal rings, terrorists, and doxxed online.”

DHS said federal agents clearly identify themselves as law enforcement when out conducting operations. They wear vests marked with ICE/ERO or DHS and operate from clearly marked vehicles.

After rioters tired of burning Teslas in the spring, they turned to anti-ICE protests using commercial fireworks, bricks and weapons to assault officers. But the attacks are getting more brazen.

In two recent assaults in Florida and Chicago, illegal immigrants used their vehicle to try and run over agents or flee and resist arrest, resulting in ICE agents being seriously injured. In another incident in California, a tow truck driver illegally towed a federal vehicle after he tried to obstruct ICE officers from making an arrest.

In California, they also use “rapid response” networks to resist ICE operations — something Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass previously bragged about on “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

And coordinated online doxing campaigns target federal officials and ICE officers and their families and expose where they live. Both Border Czar Tom Homan and Secretary Noem have reported living in secure housing separate from their family due to threats.

Democratic state Sens. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Jesse Arreguin of Berkeley introduced the no-mask legislation in June in response to immigration enforcement efforts in southern California

Senate Bill 627, dubbed the “No Secret Police Act,” bans law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty. The legislation applies to any officer of a local, state or federal law enforcement agency

A Saturday press conference included more extreme rhetoric from Newsom and his illegal immigrant supporters as he signed several bills into law to resist the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.

They used phrases such as “the militarization of places like Paramount” and “the kidnapping of students, children and women” and “the permitting of mask men to pry babies away from their mothers.”

“We cannot have masked men terrorizing our communities without identifying themselves,” one speaker said in a X post shared by Newsom’s Press Office.

In another social media post, Newsom wrote: “The new laws I just enacted are a direct response to @realDonaldTrump‘s lawless immigration raids and arrests in California.”

Newsom said California is fighting to end this chaos by:

  • Requiring schools and public hospitals to limit access and implement privacy protocols to protect against Trump’s immigration chaos.
  • Schools are now required to work with families and personnel to develop notification protocols when immigration authorities are present on campus.
  • Most federal officers are now banned from concealing their faces.
  • Most law enforcement are now required to publicly display their agency and name or badge number.

Noem also made appearances on the news and shared her take on social media regarding Newsom’s original threatening post in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s political assassination and his blatant disregard for federal immigration law.

“@GavinNewsom, stop the reckless threats and demonization of our law enforcement. America deserves better than this,” Noem wrote on X. “No amount of political fundraising or posturing to extremists and activists will make America better for our children. That is who we are fighting for: the next generation. We stand with our law enforcement, and we will not back down.”

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