Governor Newsom Signs Senator Wiener’s Ban on Extreme Masking by ICE & Other Law Enforcement

Senator Scott Wiener’s No Secret Police Act (SB 627) is the first such law enacted in the nation — among dozens of pending proposals at the local, state, and federal levels — to prohibit local and federal law enforcement from concealing their faces with ski masks and similar extreme masking.

LOS ANGELES – Governor Newsom signed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) No Secret Police Act (SB 627), which bans federal and local law enforcement, including ICE, from wearing ski masks and similar extreme masks. The new law will take effect January 1, 2026.

SB 627 is backed by a large coalition of immigrant rights, labor, and civil rights organizations. Earlier this week, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security demanded the Governor veto the bill. The Governor did not do so.

Senator Wiener, the lead author of SB 627, issued the following statement in response:

“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. I applaud Governor Newsom for the tremendous leadership he has shown in combatting President Trump’s assault on California. The No Secret Police Act is a bold step that builds on a remarkable record of leadership defending our immigrant communities and democracy itself. 

“ICE’s secret police tactics, under Trump and Stephen Miller, are raining fear and aggression down on California and requiring us to adapt in real time. I’m committed to working with the Governor’s office to further refine SB 627 early next year to ensure it is as workable as possible for many law enforcement officers working in good faith to keep California communities safe. 

“No one wants masked officers roaming their communities and kidnapping people with impunity. As this authoritarian regime expands its reach into every aspect of daily life — including terrorizing people where they work, where they live, where they go to school, where they shop, where they seek health care — California will continue to stand for the rule of law and for basic freedoms.”

SB 627 is sponsored by Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), Prosecutors Alliance Action, and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ).

“By signing SB 627, Governor Newsom has made every Californian safer,” said Cristine Soto DeBerry, Executive Director of Prosecutors Alliance Action. “Our state is now the first in the nation to draw a clear line between legitimate law enforcement and secret police tactics. This is a victory for transparency, accountability, and community trust.” 

“By signing SB 627, the Governor has shown that California is not powerless in the face of unprecedented law enforcement overreach that tramples individual rights and threatens public safety,” said Hector Villagra, MALDEF vice president of Policy Advocacy & Community Education. “SB 627 not only sends a powerful message about California’s commitment to democratic values, but also protects residents from the fear and confusion caused by masked, unidentified individuals snatching people off our sidewalks.”

“Today, Governor Newsom has made it clear: there will be no secret police in California,” said Hector Pereyra, Political Manager for the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. “By signing SB 627 into law, the Governor has delivered lifesaving protections for millions of Californians who live in constant fear of the violence and abuses under the Trump regime. In recent months, we've witnessed firsthand the brutality and inhumanity of federal immigration enforcement. We’ve seen community members assaulted, parents torn from their children, and innocent families subjected to gunfire, all at the hands of masked, unidentified federal agents. With this bill, California becomes the first state in the nation to take a bold stand and say: Enough is enough. The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice is proud to have worked alongside our cosponsors and Senator Scott Wiener to make this moment possible. We look forward to this law’s full and just implementation.”

ICE Raids Strike Terror Into Californians

In recent months, federal law enforcement officers have conducted raids — in California and across the country — while covering their faces and, at times, badges, names, and other identifying information. They sometimes wear jackets stating “Police” — effectively impersonating local law enforcement. Such raids have occurred in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Concord, Downey, Montebello, and many other places since the new federal administration began ramping up its immigration enforcement efforts.

California won a restraining order blocking indiscriminate ICE raids in Southern California after a judge found that the agency had profiled California residents by race, denied detainees access to lawyers, and targeted Californians for hanging out at work sites like Home Depot. But the Supreme Court later reversed the lower court decision and admonished them for exercising their right to check the power of President Trump’s executive branch.

ICE officers’ conduct during these raids has put Californians’ safety at risk. During a raid on families attending immigration court hearings in San Francisco, ICE officers drove an SUV into a crowd of protestors, injuring one woman. They also pepper sprayed protestors, threw several to the ground, and brandished a rifle at a reporter.

In some operations, federal law enforcement have appeared masked to grab residents off the street and whisk them away to detention centers across state lines without contacting their families or loved ones. University students, workers, and others have been grabbed off the street, sent to detention centers, and even been sent to a gulag in El Salvador.

These behaviors around face coverings and failure to provide identifying information have uncovered for the public a glaring omission in state law: That law enforcement should generally be identifying themselves and not hiding their identities. And given that the current federal administration is urging and even trying to force local law enforcement to help enforce immigration laws, California must end this omission for local law enforcement. 

This week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), led by Secretary Kristi Noem, called on Governor Newsom to veto the No Secret Police Act. 

Masks Spur Public Safety Threats

The increase in masked law enforcement operations has already spurred dangerous copycat activity. In February of this year at least three states reported arresting individuals for allegedly impersonating ICE agents:

• In South Carolina, a man was charged with kidnapping and impersonating a police officer after detaining a group of Latino men at a traffic stop, telling them “You’re going back to Mexico!”
• In North Carolina, a man was arrested for allegedly impersonating an ICE officer and sexually assaulting a woman, threatening to deport her if she refused to have sex with him.
• In Florida, a woman was recently arrested for allegedly dressing as a masked ICE officer and kidnapping her ex-boyfriend's wife. 

The No Secret Police Act (SB 627)

SB 627 prohibits local, federal, and out of state law enforcement officers, or anyone acting on behalf of a federal officer, from wearing facial coverings that conceal their identity while in the performance of their duties. This bill also requires law enforcement agencies to adopt a policy governing the use of facial coverings by July 1, 2026. This bill defines law enforcement officers as any peace officer at the local or federal level, any person acting on behalf of a federal law enforcement agency, or any out of state officer. 

The finalized version of SB 627 provides the following exemptions:

• SWAT teams
• Approved undercover assignments
• Translucent or clear masks
• Motorcycle helmets
• Eyewear to protect against retinal weapons
• N95 medical or surgical mask
• Breathing apparatuses necessary to protect against toxins, gas, and smoke
• Masks to protect against inclement weather
• Masks for underwater operations

A willful and knowing violation of the bill could result in either an infraction or misdemeanor. This criminal penalty does not apply to officers whose law enforcement agency maintains a policy on facial masking that meets robust standards set by SB 627. The civil penalty in SB 627 applies only to officers who are found to have committed an assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution while willfully and knowingly covering their face in violation of SB 627’s masking prohibition. 

SB 627 is joint authored by Senators Pérez (D-Pasadena), Arreguin (D-Berkeley), and Wahab (D-Hayward),  principal coauthored by Assemblymember Bryan (D-Los Angeles) and coauthored by Senators Ashby (D-Sacramento), Becker (D-Menlo Park), Caballero (D-Merced), Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), McNerney (D-Pleasanton), Menjivar (D-Los Angeles), Padilla (D- San Diego), Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), Stern (D-Los Angeles), Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), and Assembly Members Bonta (D-Oakland),  Carrillo (D-Palmdale), Elhawary (D-South Los Angeles), Garcia (D-Rancho Cucamonga), Gipson (D-Carson), Mark González (D-Los Angeles), Haney (D-San Francisco), Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), Kalra (D-San José), Lee (D-Milpitas), McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Ortega (D-Hayward), Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), Rogers (D-Santa Rosa), Schultz (D-Burbank), Sharp-Collins (D- San Diego), Solache (D-Lynwood), and Wilson (D-Suisun City).

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