The Trump administration on Monday challenged two recently passed California laws banning most Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from concealing their identities, arguing they mark an “unconstitutional attempt” to regulate federal law enforcement officers.
“Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe, and they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
“California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand,” she added in a press release alleging the laws threaten “officers with prosecution for simply protecting their identities and their families … chills the enforcement of federal law, and compromises sensitive law enforcement operations.”
The DOJ’s lawsuit embodies the tensions between state and federal powers that have escalated due to questions, mostly from Democratic-led states, surrounding some of the tactics ICE is using to carry out President Donald Trump’s sweeping push to deport illegal immigrants.
The lawsuit comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed legislation into law in September designed to clamp down on the Trump administration‘s immigration operations in the state. The bills included the No Secret Police Act, which bans most federal, local, and out-of-state law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings, and the No Vigilantes Act, which requires most law enforcement to display clear identification.
“To ICE, unmask. What are you afraid of?” the governor said as he signed the bills into law. “You’re gonna do enforcement? Provide an ID.”
In response, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, stated that it would not comply with the new laws, calling them “unconstitutional.”
“At a time that ICE law enforcement faces a 1,000% increase in assaults and their family members are being doxxed and targeted, the sitting Governor of California signed unconstitutional legislation that strips law enforcement of protections in a disgusting, diabolical fundraising and PR stunt,” DHS wrote.
The Justice Department argued that the state’s jurisdiction does not apply to the federal government, with acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli issuing a memo directing federal law enforcement heads to disregard the law.
“The law is well-settled that, under the Supremacy Clause, state officials cannot control the actions of federal law enforcement officers and an attempt to do so is unconstitutional,” Essayli wrote, citing the 1920 case Johnson v. Maryland.
NEWSOM SIGNS BILL BANNING ICE AGENTS FROM WEARING FACE COVERINGS
In its 16-page complaint filed Monday, the Trump administration again cited the Supremacy Clause and noted that in June, Newsom cast doubt on the legal validity of the legislation under discussion at that time.
“We’re looking at the constitutionality of it. And it appears that we don’t have the legal authority for federal agents,” Newsom said during an interview with podcaster Justin Kanew.
