How a last-minute deal doomed California's ban on masked ICE agents
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The judge was perplexed.“Why were state law enforcement officers excluded?” U.S.
District Judge Christina A.Snyder wanted to know.
The judge pressed California Deputy Atty.Gen.
Cameron Bell to explain the thinking behind a pair of trailblazing new laws meant to unmask the federal immigration agents patrolling Golden State streets and compel them to identify themselves.One of the laws required all law enforcement operating in the state to visibly display identification while on duty, with narrow exclusions for plainclothes, undercover and SWAT details.
It applied to everyone else, including U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.But the other law, a ban on masks worn by on-duty law enforcement officers, applied only to local cops and federal agents, with a broad exemption for the California Highway Patrol and other state peace officers.Snyder wanted to know: Why were the laws different?She never got an answer.
Bell said she couldn’t comment on the actions of the Legislature.In the halls of the statehouse last year, Sen.
Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) No Secret Police Act and Sen.Sasha Renée Pérez’s (D-Alhambra) No Vigilantes Act were referred to as “legislative twins,” a nod to their shared gestation and conjoined legal fate.
If passed, both would immediately be challenged by the Trump administration.That’s precisely what happened.Both measures became law — but only the ID law survived its first court battle, sending state legislators back to the drawing board on the mask ban.
Polls show unmasking ICE is overwhelmingly popular with voters, and both Wiener and Gov.Gavin Newsom took credit for getting the bill passed.
California U.S.Atty.
Gen.Pam Bondi posted on social media that the Trump administration received a favorable ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is true — just not in the case she referenced.But behind the sce...