California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday signed first-in-the-nation legislation barring most law enforcement agents, including at the federal level, from wearing some facial coverings while executing their duties in the state. The bill was first introduced in June, following U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across Los Angeles.
No Secret Police Act signed into law
SB 627, otherwise known as the No Secret Police Act, prohibits most law enforcement agents from wearing masks while on the job in California, including federal agents and out-of-state officers. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2026, though agencies have until July 1, 2026, to draft policies regarding departmental use of facial coverings.
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“As this authoritarian regime seeks to demolish our constitutional rights and engages in a straight up terror campaign, California is meeting the Trump Administration’s secret police tactics with strength and defiance,” one of the bill’s authors, state Sen. Scott Wiener, said in a statement. “The No Secret Police Act is a bold step that builds on a remarkable record of leadership defending our immigrant communities and democracy itself.”
Following the bill’s enrollment in the California State Legislature on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement calling on Newsom to veto SB 627, claiming it puts law enforcement and their families at risk.
“Sen. Scott Wiener’s legislation banning our federal law enforcement from wearing masks and his rhetoric comparing them to ‘secret police’—likening them to the Gestapo—is despicable,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Once again sanctuary politicians are trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers.”
What does SB 627 stipulate?
The legislation specifically addresses neck gators, ski masks and other facial coverings. Exemptions are carved out for SWAT teams, undercover operations, motorcycle helmets, clear masks, gas masks, surgical masks and tactical gear.
It’s also unclear if California can compel federal agents to comply with state laws. In an opinion piece for The Sacramento Bee, UC Berkley’s Erwin Chemerinsky wrote, “A state cannot directly regulate the federal government.”
However, Chemerinsky added, state and local governments “can require that federal employees comply with general laws unless doing so would significantly interfere with the performance of their duties.” He cites federal law enforcement agents who can be sued at the state level for excessive use of force.
On the other hand, Zachary Price, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, told Straight Arrow News that federal law tends to rank above state law.
“Federal law is supreme over state law, so if federal law permits the face coverings, it may preempt the contrary California law forbidding them,” Price said.
The No Secret Police Act was part of a larger legislative package signed Saturday, which Newsom called a “direct response to [President Donald Trump’s] lawless immigration raids and arrests in California.”
In addition to the ban on facial coverings, most law enforcement agents will now be required to publicly display the agency they are working for, as well as their name or badge number.
The new legislation also limits the information schools and hospitals can share with immigration officials. Schools, meanwhile, will be required to develop a notification policy for when immigration authorities visit a campus.
LA raids at the heart of SB 627
The various pieces of legislation Newsom signed on Saturday were largely the product of immigration raids and protests that occurred across LA in early June. Both law enforcement officers and activists wore masks during those protests.
However, on June 7, Trump said on social media, “masks will not be allowed to be worn at protests.” There is currently no federal law regulating demonstrators’ use of masks during protests, though several bills introduced since 2018 have stalled or failed.
Around the same time, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons defended his agents’ use of masks after San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria expressed outrage over a high-profile ICE operation in one of the city’s well-known Italian restaurants.
While the Trump administration argues that facial coverings are necessary to protect the safety of law enforcement agents, the authors of SB 627 say that facial coverings make it more difficult to hold law enforcement accountable.
Additionally, they say that facial coverings make it possible for anyone to impersonate law enforcement, writing, “In February of this year at least three states reported arresting individuals for allegedly impersonating ICE agents.”
