Newsom, who was all in favor of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, now wants ICE agents who use them to protect their identity to no longer use them.
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a new bill into law that will ban all federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks in California.
The new law will also force Federal officers, including ICE agents, to be identifiable by their name or badge number.
🚨 MASK OFF: California Democrats just voted to BAN ICE agents and law enforcement from wearing ski masks or face coverings while on duty.
So criminals get masks.
Cops don’t.
That’s Gavin Newsom’s America. pic.twitter.com/N782hXGcqL— Charlie’s Vengeance 🇺🇸 (@CharlieKNews11) September 14, 2025
Fox News reported more on Newsom’s ban on masks:
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday signed a bill banning law enforcement from wearing face coverings while conducting official business in California.
The bill, which was presented to Newsom on Wednesday, makes it a misdemeanor crime for local, state, or federal law enforcement to wear masks or personal disguises during their duties, unless an officer is undercover or performing a tactical operation that requires protective gear.
The bill would also impose a civil penalty against officers for “tortious conduct,” including false imprisonment or false arrest of an individual while wearing a facial covering.
Announcing the bill signing on Saturday, Newsom taunted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, repetitively asking “what are you afraid of?”
“Unmarked cars, people in masks, people quite literally disappearing. No due process, no rights—no rights in a democracy where we have rights, immigrants have rights,” Newsom said. “We have the right to stand up and push back, and that’s what we’re doing here today. This is a disgrace. This is an outrage. What we have allowed to happen in this country. … To ICE: unmask. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of?”
The ban comes after a series of immigration raids in Los Angeles, where federal agents were spotted wearing masks to protect their identities from being leaked.
Watch Newsom here:
NEW — Gov. Gavin Newsom bans masks on ICE agents in California pic.twitter.com/hbVTilJ1cV
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) September 20, 2025
The New York Post reported more on Newsom’s bans:
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a series of bills on Saturday banning masking statewide, as part of a concentrated effort to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from concealing their identities during raids.
The five bills Newsom signed into law Saturday “make California the first state in the nation to prohibit federal law enforcement officers, including ICE, from hiding their identities,” according to a press release from his office.
The anti-ICE moves also make “it less likely that federal immigration enforcement officers target children in classrooms and patients in hospitals,” the statement continued.
Under the new legislation, law and immigrant enforcement officers must remain identifiable “by name or badge number,” and “masks are not to be worn except when absolutely necessary.”
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