Judge halts California law banning federal agents from wearing masks

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Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Monday struck down California's No Secret Police Act, because its ban on federal agents from wearing masks in the state "unlawfully discriminates" against them.

U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder said the law does not prevent federal agents from doing their jobs, but blocked the law because it specifically affects only federal agents, leaving out state and local law enforcement officers, the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Politico reported.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the No Secret Police Act, as well as the No Vigilantes Act, in 2025 in response to federal immigration raids last summer in California that were seen by critics as using racial profiling and, as in other cities in the United States over the last year, using fear and intimidation while agents sought to conceal their identities amid widespread criticism.

The No Secret Police Act, Snyder wrote in a 30-page decision, "treats federal law enforcement officers differently than similarly situated state law enforcement officers" and violates the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause.

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She wrote, however, that the No Vigilantes Act -- which requires local, state and federal law enforcement officers to identify themselves -- stands because it applies all levels of law enforcement.

Snyder noted in her decision that the primary issue with the No Secret Police Act is because it treats officials at varying levels differently.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a statement on X, called the ruling "ANOTHER key court victory" for the U.S. Department of Justice that she said allows the Department of Homeland Security to "continue fighting and winning in court for President Trump's law-and-order agenda."

"These federal agents are harassed, doxxed, obstructed, and attacked on a regular basis just for doing their jobs," Bondi said. "We have no tolerance for it."

Democrats in the Congress -- first in the Senate, and then in the House of Representatives -- have held up a federal funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security over tactics that have been used in the Trump administration's nationwide immigration crackdown.

Holding back funding for DHS was spurred by the death of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Minn., in three weeks in January.

The Senate amended the DHS funding bill to require changes that include requiring judicial warrants for arrests on private property, an end to racial profiling and indiscriminate arrests and for agents to stop wearing masks to conceal their identities.

The House has yet to vote on the bill as Democrats said, four days before funding runs out, resulting in a partial federal government shutdown, that they will not vote for a bill that does not require DHS to alter the tactics it has used over the last year, NBC News reported.

In response to Synder's ruling, California state Senator Scott Wiener, who sponsored the mask ban, announced that he plans to introduce new legislation that includes state and local officers under the bill, saying in a press release that he "will do everything in my power to expedite passage of this adjustment to the No Secret Police Act."

"ICE and Border Control are covering their faces to maximize their terror campaign and to insulate themselves from accountability," Wiener said in the release. "States have limited tools to fight back against the federal government, but I will always use whatever tools are available to me to stand up against this violent and despicable assault on civilians."

"We will unmask these thugs and hold them accountable. Full stop," he said.

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