By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed more than 20 bills Tuesday aimed at federal immigration enforcement practices in the state, including new bans on electric shock gloves and law enforcement face coverings.
- The shock glove ban applies to all law enforcement statewide and followed reports that the Department of Homeland Security planned to spend $20 million equipping ICE agents with the devices.
- A revised face-covering ban, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, applies to both state and federal law enforcement after a federal judge blocked an earlier version covering only federal agents.
- Other new laws expand state oversight of immigration detention facilities, including a 180-day public-hearing requirement before new facilities can be built, a 25% tax on companies operating detention centers, and a mandate that local agencies disclose 911 calls placed from detention centers.
- Newsom also signed the “No Kings Act,” which removes an exemption shielding federal officials from state civil rights lawsuits over alleged unlawful searches, profiling or free-speech interference.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed more than 20 bills Tuesday targeting tactics used in federal immigration enforcement operations in California, including statewide bans on electric shock gloves and law enforcement face coverings, along with measures expanding state oversight of immigration detention facilities.
“California is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the signings. “This is about stepping up where the federal government has failed our communities.”
The shock glove ban applies to any law enforcement agency in the state and was drafted and passed after reports that the Department of Homeland Security planned to spend $20 million to equip ICE agents with the devices. Separately, Newsom signed a revised ban on law enforcement face coverings authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. Wiener’s earlier version, which applied only to federal agents, was blocked by a federal judge; the new law extends the prohibition to both state and federal officers. Wiener also authored the “No Kings Act,” which he said closes a legal loophole exempting federal officials from state civil rights lawsuits over alleged racial profiling, unlawful searches or interference with free speech — protections that already apply to state and local officials under existing law.
Several of the new laws focus on oversight of immigration detention facilities in California. Assembly Bill 1801 requires municipalities to hold public hearings and wait at least 180 days before approving plans to build or convert facilities into immigration detention centers. Assembly Bill 1633, authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, imposes a 25% tax on companies operating detention centers in the state — most of which are run by GEO Group and CoreCivic under federal contracts — which a fiscal analysis estimated would raise about $177 million. Another new law requires local agencies to disclose 911 calls made from detention facilities, following a CalMatters investigation that found alleged sexual assaults at San Diego’s Otay Mesa detention center were investigated by CoreCivic rather than local law enforcement. Newsom also extended indefinitely the state attorney general’s authority to review private detention centers, which had been set to expire next year.
State officials have raised concerns about detention center conditions and rising in-custody deaths nationally. The federal government has reported 57 in-custody deaths during the Trump administration’s second term, compared with 26 during the prior four years. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office reported finding substandard conditions during facility reviews last year, including overcrowding, delayed medical care, poor food and water quality, and, at one facility, inadequate cold-weather clothing for detainees.