It is the first state to stop most law enforcement officers from covering their faces while on duty
California governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that prohibits the majority of law enforcement officers from covering their faces while on duty, reported the Associated Press.
Under the legislation, local and federal officers may not wear neck gaiters, ski masks, and other facial coverings while conducting official business. The bill covers immigration enforcement agents and was said to be a response to federal agents being masked while conducting mass arrests during the Los Angeles immigration raids in June.
The bill makes exemptions for undercover agents, those wearing medical masks like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and state police. According to Newsom, the law reflects California’s retaliation against having cloaked agents without identification or badge numbers stop civilians on the street.
“The impact of these policies all across this city, our state and nation are terrifying. It’s like a dystopian sci-fi movie. Unmarked cars, people in masks, people quite literally disappearing. No due process, no rights, no right in a democracy where we have rights,” Newsom said in a statement published by AP News. “Immigrants have rights, and we have the right to stand up and push back, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”
The passage of the law comes after the US Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing the IS administration to continue enforcing immigration policies in Los Angeles. The law’s proponents said the bill would prevent officers from being impersonated by criminals and enhance the public’s trust in law enforcement.
The US administration has argued that immigration agents on business could be subject to public and online harassment targeted towards them and their families if their identities are not hidden. Acting Southern California US attorney Bill Essayli wrote on the social media platform X that he had informed agencies that they are not beholden to the new law, given that the state of California has no jurisdiction over the federal government.
US Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin also decried the California law.
“While our federal law enforcement officers are being assaulted by rioters and having rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at them, a sanctuary politician is trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers,” McLaughlin wrote in an email statement published by AP News.
Newsom said there was no evidence for McLaughlin’s doxxing concerns.
“There’s an assertion that somehow there is an exponential increase in assaults on officers, but they will not provide the data. All they have provided is misinformation and misdirection,” he said in a statement published by AP News.
Newsom signed the bill on Saturday September 20. Lawmakers in Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania have proposed similar mask ban bills, as have Democrat congresspeople.
