{"id":38281,"date":"2025-09-13T22:18:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=38281"},"modified":"2025-09-13T22:18:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:18:29","slug":"california-legislature-passes-bill-prohibiting-law-enforcement-from-wearing-face-masks-to-shield-identities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=38281","title":{"rendered":"California legislature passes bill prohibiting law enforcement from wearing face masks to shield identities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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California lawmakers passed a measure that would\u00a0ban most law enforcement officers from covering their faces<\/a>\u00a0while on the job in response to recent immigration raids in the Los Angeles area where some federal agents covered their faces and hid their identities.<\/p>\n

The bill, approved on Thursday, now heads to Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n

Though if he signs it into law, it is unclear whether the state could enforce the ban on federal agents who have been carrying out raids and arrests at local businesses under\u00a0President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation plan.<\/a><\/p>\n

The bill is the first of its kind to pass through a state legislature, although similar legislation has been introduced in several states, including Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois,\u00a0New York,\u00a0<\/a>Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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Democrats on Capitol Hill have also proposed a mask ban for law enforcement officers.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents, would be banned from wearing neck gators, ski masks and other facial coverings while carrying out official business.<\/p>\n

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California lawmakers passed a measure that would ban most law enforcement officers from covering their faces while on the job.AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Exceptions would be permitted for undercover agents, medical masks like N95 respirators or tactical gear.<\/p>\n

Newsom has about a month to sign the legislation into law.<\/p>\n

While he has criticized federal agents\u2019 use of masks during arrests, he has also raised questions over the summer about the state\u2019s authority over federal agents.<\/p>\n

Federal agents have conducted immigration raids in Southern California since June, sparking protests and the subsequent federal deployment of the National Guard and Marines.<\/p>\n

Proponents of the bill said the proposal is needed following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this week allowing the federal government to resume sweeping immigration raids in Los Angeles, which also permits agents to target migrants based on things like race or ethnicity, speaking in Spanish or presence at specific locations.<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Juan Carrillo, a Democrat, said the SCOTUS ruling is \u201ceffectively allowing federal agents to stop suspects based solely on their race, language, or job.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The bill gained traction after federal agents covered their faces while running immigration raids in LA.Brandon Pollard\/ZUMA Press Wire \/ SplashNews.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cHow is anyone supposed to reasonably believe that they are law enforcement officers and not masked individuals trying to kidnap you?\u201d he said ahead of the vote. \u201cImagine the absolute fear of being pulled over at gunpoint by a group of masked individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill supporters also cited an opinion from constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky at the University of California, Berkeley.<\/p>\n

He wrote in an opinion piece published in the Sacramento Bee that a state cannot directly regulate the federal government, but that does not mean federal employees can ignore state rules \u201cunless doing so would significantly interfere with the performance of their duties.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The bill heads to Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s desk.AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Some people suspect the use of face masks generates fear among the public and must be stopped.AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cICE agents have never before worn masks when apprehending people, and that never has posed a problem. Nor have other officers of local, state and federal law enforcement faced dangers from the public because they don\u2019t wear masks in the streets,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers and law enforcement agencies argue that the legislation would only make the job more dangerous for officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBad guys wear masks because they don\u2019t want to get caught. Good guys wear masks because they don\u2019t want to get killed,\u201d GOP state Sen. Kelly Seyarto said.<\/p>\n

Trump administration officials have attempted to defend the practice of face coverings by stating that federal immigration agents have faced an increase in harassment in public and online.<\/p>\n

But others, including several state attorneys general, argued that the use of face masks generates fear among the public and must be stopped.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    California lawmakers passed a measure that would\u00a0ban most law enforcement officers from covering their faces\u00a0while on the job in response to recent immigration raids in the Los Angeles … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38282,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38281\/revisions\/38282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}