Newsom Signs Law Prohibiting Agents From Wearing Masks

California will be the first state to prohibit most law enforcement, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business under a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday. The ban is California's direct response to a recent series of immigration raids in Los Angeles at which federal agents wore masks while making mass arrests, the AP reports. The raids prompted a dayslong protest across the city; President Trump then deployed National Guard troops and Marines to the area. It's unclear whether the state can enforce the rule on the federal agents who have been carrying out those raids. A Homeland Security official called the legislation "despicable" this week, saying it will put officers in danger.

Newsom, a Democrat who has attacked federal agents' use of masks during official business, also signed other legislation intended to limit immigration enforcement in hospitals and schools, per the San Francisco Chronicle. He signed the bills in Los Angeles, flanked by state lawmakers and immigrant community members. In a statement, the governor excoriated Trump's immigration tactics, naming his top aide on immigration policy, Stephen Miller. "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," Newsom wrote. "California is putting an end to it and making sure schools and hospitals remain what they should be: places of care, not chaos."

The Department of Homeland Security said it had sent letters Friday to the attorneys general of California, Illinois, and New York reinforcing previous instructions that the Democrat-run states honor detainers from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for "criminal illegal aliens within their jurisdictions." DHS said in a statement Saturday that if the states failed to comply, it would pursue "all appropriate measures to end their inadvisable and irresponsible obstruction." The new law prohibits neck gators, ski masks, and other facial coverings for local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents, while they conduct official business. It makes exceptions for undercover agents, medical masks such as N95 respirators, and tactical gear.