California: Governor Newsom signs laws to protect school children and hospital patients, and limit fear tactics used by Trump’s secret police force to terrorize communities
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Sep 20, 2025

Governor Newsom signs laws to protect school children and hospital patients, and limit fear tactics used by Trump's secret police force to terrorize communities

What you need to know: Governor Newsom signed the nation's strongest protections into law to limit tactics being used by Trump's federal "secret police," protect children at schools, and patients in public hospitals from Trump's lawlessness.

LOS ANGELES — Standing alongside leaders of communities terrorized by Trump's lawless raids across Southern California, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed a groundbreaking package of bills to respond to federal overreach and push back against Trump and Stephen Miller's "secret police" tactics in California. The new laws make California the first state in the nation to prohibit federal law enforcement officers, including ICE, from hiding their identities, and make it less likely that federal immigration enforcement officers target children in classrooms and patients in hospitals.

"Public safety depends on trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve — but Trump and Miller have shattered that trust and spread fear across America. California is putting an end to it and making sure schools and hospitals remain what they should be: places of care, not chaos."

Governor Gavin Newsom

"Our places of learning and healing must never be turned into the hunting grounds this federal administration has tried to make them out to be. I have sat with mothers who are afraid to send their children to school, and with farmworker families who live every day with the fear of being torn apart. No family should ever have to carry that weight. California is choosing true public safety. We are implementing the strongest laws in the nation to protect our residents and rejecting this despicable fear. I could not be more proud."

First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom

"The Governor's signing of these immigration bills sends a clear message to immigration enforcement agencies that students or families should not live in fear for going to school, going to work, seeking medical care or simply living their daily lives. California's AAPI communities are among those that are most impacted, and we must continue working together to protect our most vulnerable," said Assemblymember Mike Fong, Chair of the AAPI Legislative Caucus.

"The signing of this immigration bill package is a major win for our communities, delivering stronger protections in the face of egregious immigration raids and escalating authoritarian attacks on our freedoms," said Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), Chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus. "These new laws set important guardrails so that immigrant families can feel safe whether they are at school, at the doctor, or in their own neighborhood. The California Latino Legislative Caucus stands proudly alongside the AAPI legislative Caucus, and community leaders who championed this critical legislation, and I thank Governor Newsom for signing them into law."

"As someone who has seen firsthand the importance of transparency and accountability in law enforcement, I strongly support Governor Newsom signing this legislation," said Jason P. Houser, Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Former CBP Counterterrorism Official & Afghanistan Combat Veteran. "Ensuring that officers are clearly identified, while providing sensible exceptions, helps protect both the public and law enforcement personnel. These are common-sense necessities that safeguard all law enforcement agencies as they keep us safe and protect our communities. Masking discredits law enforcement and disconnects officers from the communities they serve — making all of us less safe. Law enforcement focused on public safety and national security is supported by all Americans, not politically driven quotas and fear campaigns that divide officers from the people they serve. Frankly, these steps shouldn't even be necessary — but the current White House has chosen to push anti-community and anti-law enforcement policies instead of building an immigration system that works for everyone. These measures not only guard against impersonation but also build the trust that is essential for effective public safety operations."

No ICE in schools. No ICE in hospitals. No concealing identities.

California is implementing the nation's strongest laws to protect residents from tactics being employed by President Trump and Stephen Miller's secret police. This legislative package signed into law today establishes baseline expectations to keep people safe, laying out that:
  • Families should be notified when immigration enforcement comes on school campuses, and establish that student information and classrooms are protected from ICE — and require a judicial warrant or court order to be accessed.
  • Emergency rooms and other nonpublic areas in a hospital are off limits to immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant or court order, and it clarifies that immigration information collected by a health care provider is protected as medical information.
  • Law and immigrant enforcement officers must be identifiable by name or badge number, and exceptions to that must be clearly established — masks are not to be worn except when absolutely necessary.
  • Impersonating a federal agent is a crime.

Trump and Miller's chaos

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Trump and Stephen Miller's immigration agenda is built on arbitrary quotas and few guardrails for fairness or due process. In California, their tactics have terrorized communities, traumatized students, disrupted businesses, and endangered public safety for American citizens. The Supreme Court's recent ruling allowing people to be targeted because of how they look or where they work has only brought further pain and fear to so many, especially many Latino Californians.

For Trump and Miller, the only metric is mass arrests, detentions, and removals — even at the expense of Americans' constitutional rights. ICE agents have wrongfully arrested citizens, concealed their identities, and undermined transparency. They dismantled rules that once kept enforcement away from schools, hospitals, and churches, fueling student absences and eroding community trust.

Under California law, state prison officials communicate and coordinate with immigration authorities.  And under the Newsom Administration, CDCR has coordinated with the Federal Government more than 10,000 times – a fact that the Trump Administration simply ignores because it doesn't fit their preferred narrative. Lastly, the Governor has twice vetoed bills that would have limited CDCR's coordination with ICE: AB 1306 (Carrillo) in 2023, and a different version — AB 1282 (Kalra) in 2019.

ICE wrongfully arrested an American Citizen, while concealing their faces in a parking lot of a Home Depot, and then bragged about how many arrests were being made (to please Trump and Miller). It's not the only occurrence.



Economic impact of Trump and Miller's terror and chaos

The Trump Administration claims to target the worst of the worst, but has instead targeted hardworking people without criminal records, including parents of U.S. citizens, and even people with legal status and part of the DACA program, while also targeting children. Meanwhile, they are diverting law enforcement from focusing on child predator cases, drug interdiction and other serious crimes to focus on civil immigration enforcement. The Trump Administration also continues to target worksites despite significant concerns from business leaders, including the agricultural sector, and Republicans. The most recent data show that as of September 7, 2025, 70.8% of people in ICE detention have no criminal conviction.

California's diversity has helped make California the fourth-largest economy in the world and a leader in revolutionary advances in science and technology, as well as thriving cultural and creative ecosystems. Immigrants and their descendants have been major contributors to our history and excellence, and continue to support our communities and economy today. Over half of immigrants in California are U.S. citizens, and most immigrants are documented. Mass deportations in California could slash $275 billion from the state's economy and eliminate $23 billion in annual tax revenue. The loss of immigrant labor would delay projects (including rebuilding Los Angeles after the wildfires), reduce food supply, and drive up costs. Unlike the federal administration, California values the contributions of immigration to our communities and economy.

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Bills signed by Governor Newsom today
  • Assembly Bill 49 by Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) — School sites: immigration enforcement.
  • Senate Bill 81 by Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley) — Health and care facilities: information sharing.
  • Senate Bill 98 by Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) — Elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education: immigration enforcement: notification.
  • Senate Bill 627 by Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) — Law enforcement: masks. View signing message here.
  • Senate Bill 805 by Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) — Crimes.

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