SAN FRANCISCO – The California Legislature passed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) SB 627, the No Secret Police Act and sent it to the Governor. The bill prohibits local and federal law enforcement from concealing their faces with extreme masking. As the Trump Administration expands the use of secret police tactics, SB 627 boosts transparency and supports public safety by bolstering public trust in law enforcement.
SB 627 is all the more urgent after this week’s Supreme Court decision empowering ICE to harass and detain California residents based solely on the color of their skin and the language they speak. The bill has inspired dozens of similar bills in Congress; in Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania; and in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, and San Jose. SB 627 is the first such bill to pass.
The bill passed the Assembly 45-23 and the Senate 26-9. It heads next to the Governor, who has until October 13 to sign or veto the bill.
“We have to stand up and say no to the secret police raining fear and intimidation on communities across California,” said Senator Wiener. “Law enforcement should never be easily confused with the guy in the ski mask robbing a liquor store, yet that’s what’s happening with ICE’s extreme masking. In the face of rising fascism, California must hold those who are threatening our communities accountable and restore confidence in our local law enforcement who are proud to show their faces.”
“Today’s passage of SB 627 sends a clear and unequivocal message: California will not tolerate secret police. This bill makes sure that when officers cover their faces, it is only for genuine health, safety, or tactical reasons – not to hide abuse or escape accountability. At a time when federal agents are sowing fear in our communities and the Supreme Court has essentially sanctioned racial profiling by federal officers, this safeguard is essential. We urge the Governor to sign SB 627 into law without delay,” said Cristine Soto DeBerry, Executive Director of Prosecutors Alliance Action.
“The passage of SB 627 is a major victory for immigrant communities across California and especially here in the Inland Empire, where the fear of masked and unaccountable law enforcement is a daily reality for many,” said Hector Pereyra, Political Manager for the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. “At a time when the Supreme Court has given ICE even more power to racially profile and detain our community members, this bill sends a powerful message: California will not stand by while federal agents operate like secret police. SB 627 is a critical step toward restoring transparency, trust, and safety.”
“SB 627 is a vital step toward restoring public trust in law enforcement. The routine use of facial coverings by officers not only undermines transparency—it increases the risk of impersonation and obstructs accountability,” said Hector Villagra, Vice President of Policy Advocacy and Community Education at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Ed Fund (MALDEF). “By establishing clear criminal penalties as well as a civil remedy and damages, this bill sends a powerful message about California’s commitment to democratic values. It protects residents from the fear and confusion caused by masked, unidentified individuals snatching people off our sidewalks, and it reins in a dangerous practice before it becomes normalized. We urge the Governor to sign it into law.”
In recent months, federal law enforcement officers have conducted raids — in California and across the country — while covering their faces and, at times, badges, names, and other identifying information. They sometimes wear jackets stating “Police” — effectively impersonating local law enforcement. Such raids have occurred in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Concord, Downey, Montebello, and many other places since the new federal administration began ramping up its immigration enforcement efforts.
California won a restraining order blocking indiscriminate ICE raids in Southern California after a judge found that the agency had profiled California residents by race, denied detainees access to lawyers, and targeted Californians for hanging out at work sites like Home Depot. But yesterday, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court decision and admonished them for exercising their right to check the power of President Trump’s executive branch.
ICE officers’ conduct during these raids has put Californians’ safety at risk. During a raid on families attending immigration court hearings in San Francisco, ICE officers drove an SUV into a crowd of protestors, injuring one woman. They also pepper sprayed protestors, threw several to the ground, and brandished a rifle at a reporter.
In some operations, federal law enforcement have appeared masked to grab residents off the street and whisk them away to detention centers across state lines without contacting their families or loved ones. University students, workers, and others have been grabbed off the street, sent to detention centers, and even been sent to a gulag in El Salvador.
These behaviors around face coverings and failure to provide identifying information have uncovered for the public a glaring omission in state law: That law enforcement should generally be identifying themselves and not hiding their identities. And given that the current federal administration is urging and even trying to force local law enforcement to help enforce immigration laws, California must end this omission for local law enforcement.
The increase in masked law enforcement operations has already spurred dangerous copycat activity. In February of this year at least three states reported arresting individuals for allegedly impersonating ICE agents:
In South Carolina, a man was charged with kidnapping and impersonating a police officer after detaining a group of Latino men at a traffic stop, telling them “You’re going back to Mexico!”
In North Carolina, a man was arrested for allegedly impersonating an ICE officer and sexually assaulting a woman, threatening to deport her if she refused to have sex with him.
In Florida, a woman was recently arrested for allegedly dressing as a masked ICE officer and kidnapping her ex-boyfriend’s wife.
The No Secret Police Act (SB 627)
The bill defines law enforcement officers as any peace officer at the local or federal level, any person acting on behalf of a federal law enforcement agency, or any out of state officer.
The finalized version of SB 627 provides the following exemptions:
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A willful and knowing violation of the bill results in either an infraction or misdemeanor. This criminal penalty does not apply to officers whose law enforcement agency maintains a policy on facial masking that meets robust standards set by SB 627. The civil penalty in SB 627 applies only to officers who are found to have committed an assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution while willfully and knowingly covering their face in violation of SB 627’s masking prohibition.
SB 627 is joint authored by Senators Pérez (D-Pasadena), Arreguin (D-Berkeley), and Wahab (D-Hayward), principal coauthored by Assemblymember Bryan (D-Los Angeles) and coauthored by Senators Ashby (D-Sacramento), Becker (D-Menlo Park), Caballero (D-Merced), Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), McNerney (D-Pleasanton), Menjivar (D-Los Angeles), Padilla (D- San Diego), Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), Stern (D-Los Angeles), Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), and Assembly Members Bonta (D-Oakland), Carrillo (D-Palmdale), Elhawary (D-South Los Angeles), Garcia (D-Rancho Cucamonga), Gipson (D-Carson), Mark González (D-Los Angeles), Haney (D-San Francisco), Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), Kalra (D-San José), Lee (D-Milpitas), McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Ortega (D-Hayward), Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), Rogers (D-Santa Rosa), Schultz (D-Burbank), Sharp-Collins (D- San Diego), Solache (D-Lynwood), and Wilson (D-Suisun City).
SB 627 is sponsored by Mexican-American Legal Defense and Ed Fund (MALDEF), Prosecutors Alliance Action, and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ).