WATCH: California bans ICE masks; feds refuse to comply

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(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Monday it won’t follow a new California law banning masks on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

"To be crystal clear: We will not abide by [Gov. Gavin] Newsom’s unconstitutional ban," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in statement emailed to The Center Square and other media.

The ban is scheduled to take effect in January, but it could end up in court if California tries to enforce it. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California said Monday on media platforms that the state has no jurisdiction over ICE officers.

Newsom signed the ban, also known as Senate Bill 627 or the No Secret Police Act, and four other immigration bills as a large group of local and state officials and supporters stood behind him Saturday outside Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, a Los Angeles high school. SB 627 bans masks except for special circumstances such as undercover or Special Weapons And Tactics operations requiring protective gear.

In addition to the ban on masks, the laws signed Saturday require families be notified if immigration authorities are coming to schools, prevents data about students from being shared with ICE without a warrant, and prevents ICE officers from targeting patients in emergency rooms and other nonpublic areas of hospitals. The laws also require ICE officers to be identifiable by name and badge number and make impersonating a federal agent a crime, according to the Governor’s Office.

Unlike SB 627, four of the immigration laws take effect immediately.

“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 Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, who chairs the California Latino Legislative Caucus, who was among the speakers Saturday. “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.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who also spoke at the podium, said the bills are intended to protect Los Angeles residents from the federal government.

Alberto  Carvalho, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, started the news conference by saying the district, state and city are united in protecting students, families and the workforce from “immoral, unethical and illegal actions.”

"There are no sidewalks for immigrant children and sidewalks for everybody else,"  Carvalho said. "Everybody walks the same sidewalks of hope and opportunity to our schools."

Newsom said the five bills are about accountability and are long overdue.

“Enough is enough. ICE, unmask! What are you afraid of?” Newsom said.

But McLaughlin of Homeland Security accused the governor of "fanning the flames of division, hatred and dehumanization of our law enforcement.

“Sanctuary politicians’ rhetoric comparing ICE to ‘secret police’ — likening them to the Gestapo — is diabolical,” McLaughlin told The Center Square in her statement.

“While our federal law enforcement officers are being assaulted by rioters and having rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at them, a sanctuary politician is trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers,” McLaughlin said. “Not only is ICE law enforcement facing a more than 1,000 percent increase in assaults, but we’ve also seen thugs launch websites to reveal officers’ identity. 

“We will prosecute those who dox our agents to the fullest extent of the law,” she said.

McLaughlin also noted ICE officers identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks "to protect themselves from being targeted by highly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, criminal rings, murderers, and rapists.

"Our officers also wear vests marked with ICE/ERO or Homeland Security and are flanked by vehicles marked with the name of the department," she said. ERO stands for Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Jurisdiction remains a key question. A reporter asked Newsom Saturday about the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which says federal laws supersedes conflicting state laws. But the governor said federal employees must follow state laws such as traffic rules.

“The Supremacy Clause asserts we cannot interfere in federal operations. Federal operations have been conducted for decades and decades without masks. It’s never been necessary,” Newsom said. “It’s a new construct designed to instill fear and chaos.”

But a masks ban, which faces opposition from law enforcement organizations through California, isn’t the answer, state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, told The Center Square Monday afternoon.

A better solution is to end the state and city of Los Angeles sanctuary laws and let local law enforcement cooperate with ICE, which would allow for precise arrests and make ICE raids unnecessary, Strickland said.

He noted Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama deported more illegal immigrants than President Donald Trump and were able to do so without raids, which he conceded may occasionally and inadvertently detain citizens and legal immigrants.

Strickland called the masks ban “reckless and dangerous” and said it could hurt “the people trying to keep us safe.”

The senator added the state has no jurisdiction over ICE and will lose in court if it tries to enforce the new law.