Legislature passes bill making it easier for Californians to sue ICE agents

August 29, 2026 By Sara DiNatale, Bob Egelko 1 Comment

Legislation that makes it easier for Californians to sue federal officers, including immigration agents, is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk after the Senate overwhelmingly passed it Thursday.

The bill, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, passed the Senate in a 28-10 vote after passing 54-17 in the Assembly on Tuesday. Wiener told the Senate the bill creates a pathway for residents to sue any federal, state or local official “who violates their constitutional rights.”

“The only way to end ICE’s violent, lawless behavior is accountability,” Wiener said following the vote. “Today, the California Legislature stood up to hold them accountable.”

Wiener has said the bill would allow people harmed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to file a lawsuit over their mistreatment by closing loopholes that made it difficult to sue federal law enforcement in California state courts. Allegations could now include freedom of speech violations, unlawful searches, racial profiling — or wrongful death.

Wiener, who is now running for a congressional seat, first introduced Senate Bill 747, also known as the No Kings Act, in September 2025. But attention on the bill picked up earlier this year in the wake of the violent confrontations in Minnesota, where ICE agents shot and killed 37-year–old Alex Pretti and 37-year-old Renee Good.

“Today’s vote means Californians harmed by a federal agent’s misconduct are one step closer to a real day in court,” Cameron Kistler with nonprofit Protect Democracy said in a statement. “We urge Governor Newsom to sign it into law without delay.”

If signed into law by Newsom, the bill will make California the fifth state this year to give residents a remedy when federal law enforcement violates their constitutional rights, according to Protect Democracy, which co-sponsored the bill. The other states are New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Amendments made to the bill clarify that it does not apply to cities, counties or public entities but, rather, to individuals, Wiener told senators Thursday. He said it does not expand liabilities beyond what federal law already permits.

Despite criticism from Republicans that the legislation goes outside the state’s jurisdiction, Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school dean at UC Berkeley and an expert in constitutional law, told the Chronicle it’s likely that California will be able to enforce a law allowing lawsuits to be filed against federal agents in state court over violations of constitutional rights.

“I do not believe that the supremacy clause automatically protects federal officers from state tort or criminal liability,” Chemerinsky said, referring to the section of the U.S. Constitution that declares federal law to be the supreme law of the land, overriding any conflicting state laws.

Click here to read the full article in the SF Chronicle

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Here are some immigration-related bills up for an Assembly hearing this week

August 10, 2026 By Linh Tat 1 Comment

Over two dozen bills in total have been introduced by state lawmakers to address ICE and other immigration enforcement actions

It’s been more than a year since federal immigration agents first descended upon California en masse. Across the country, immigration-related arrests by federal agents haven’t stopped — nor have efforts by California lawmakers to pass legislation in response to such actions.

More than two dozen bills related to immigration are making their way through the state legislative process.

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Some would make it harder for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Border Patrol agents to operate in California or aim to regulate their conduct. Others examine conditions at detention facilities or address private companies and other organizations that contract with or are viewed as having some affiliation, either directly or indirectly, with ICE operations.

Related: California lawmakers are pushing various immigration-related bills this year. Track them here

You can read about them on our immigration-related state bills tracker, which we’ll update throughout the legislative session.

In the meantime, we’re highlighting a few to give you a sense of the breadth of legislation that has been proposed. The following bills all passed out of the Senate in May and are scheduled to be taken up by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Aug. 5.

Face mask ban

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last year barring federal immigration agents from wearing ski masks or other face coverings to hide their identities, but a judge blocked that law from taking effect, finding it discriminated against federal law enforcement since the ban did not apply to state law enforcement agents.

As a result, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced SB 1004, amending his previous bill by including state officers in the mask ban.

“ICE and Border Patrol are covering their faces to maximize their terror campaign and to insulate themselves from accountability. We won’t let them get away with it,” Wiener said the day of the judge’s ruling, when he pledged to return with amended legislation.

Use of flashbang grenades

SB 937 would severely limit local, state and federal law enforcement agents’ use of military-style flashbang grenades and explosive breaching devices to control crowds at protests taking place within 300 feet of a school zone, park or other area where kids are visibly present.

It also would ban the use of such devices in immigration enforcement activities in most cases and would require public reporting when these grenades are used.

“The military-style violence being used against our communities must stop. There is no justification and no safety in using flashbangs and explosives against peaceful protesters and people who pose no threat,” Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, said when she introduced the legislation earlier this year.

Conditions in detention facilities

The Masuma Khan Justice Act is named for an immigrant from Bangladesh who lives in Altadena and whose husband and daughter are U.S. citizens. The Eaton fire survivor was detained by federal immigration officials during a check-in appointment and reportedly held in a detention facility without warm clothes, proper food or access to critical medication until a judge ordered her release late last year.

SB 995, which bears Khan’s name, would authorize the California Department of Public Health to inspect private detention facilities to ensure they meet sanitary, hygienic and safety standards. The inspectors would evaluate a number of factors, including pest control, air quality and ventilation and whether detainees have access to water and proper nutrition.

Operators would have to correct deficiencies or face fines of up to $25,000 per day per violation, depending on the violation, and risk the suspension or revocation of their operating permits.

Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, the bill’s author, expressed gratitude after the Senate voted unanimously in May to approve it.

“With a strong and unified voice, the California State Senate has declared that this is not a partisan issue, but an urgent human rights concern,” she said at the time. “This bill is rooted in the simple principle that if detention centers operate in California, they must meet California’s standards.”

Speaking of detention facilities, another bill, SB 1367, would prohibit cities and counties from approving new land uses that would enable detention facilities to be built, or that would change an existing building’s use permit so that it can be used as a detention center.

“California has a responsibility to ensure that its land use policies do not enable human rights abuses, including the repurposing of warehouses to detention centers,” said Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, D-Riverside, the bill’s author.

ICE at large retail stores

The Responsible Enterprise and Public Accounting of Immigration Raids (REPAIR) Act, also authored by Pérez, would require large retail stores where federal immigration activities have occurred to provide the California attorney general with documentation, including video footage, when such incidents occur on their premise, if subpoenaed. These stores also would need to provide the county where they’re located with similar access.

A “large retail store” is defined in this bill as a business entity with 50 or more stores in the state with an average of 100,000 square feet or more of enclosed space.

Although The Home Depot isn’t specifically named in the bill, representatives for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a sponsor of SB 1103, have mentioned the big-box home improvement store when talking about the legislation. Over the past year, a number of ICE raids have taken place in the parking lots of Home Depot stores where day laborers often go to seek work.

The Home Depot, for its part, has repeatedly maintained that the company doesn’t get involved in immigration enforcement operations.

Click here to read the full article in the OC Register

 

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Judge blocks enforcement of California’s law banning masks for ICE agents

August 6, 2026 By Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein 2 Comments

But the judge also turned down the federal government’s request to block another California law aimed at abuses in immigration enforcement.

A judge on Monday blocked California from enforcing a new law sharply limiting when federal agents can wear masks while engaged in deportation operations.

U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder rejected the Trump administration’s claim that ICE agents need to wear masks to prevent doxing. However, in a 30-page decision, the judge said California’s “No Secret Police Act” appears to violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by discriminating against the federal government because the law’s provisions do not apply to state law enforcement officers.

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“The Act treats federal law enforcement officers differently than similarly situated state law enforcement officers,” Snyder concluded.

Snyder, a Clinton appointee based in Los Angeles, said that law is likely to pass constitutional muster because it applies more broadly, including to California officials. She also suggested the anti-masking law would be constitutional if it were broadened to cover state law enforcement as well.

“The Court finds that these Acts serve the public interest by promoting transparency which is essential for accountability and public trust. Moreover, the Court finds no cognizable justification for law enforcement officers to conceal their identities during their performance of routine, non-exempted law enforcement functions and interactions with the general public,” Snyder wrote.

Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who authored the mask ban, on Monday announced he would propose legislation adding state law enforcement to the law in response to the ruling. The lawmaker last year exempted state-level officers while applying the proposal to federal and local agencies amid intense opposition from law enforcement groups.

Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office agreed not to enforce either law while Snyder was considering the Trump administration’s request to block the statutes. Snyder stayed her ruling until Feb. 19, so enforcement of the identification requirement is unlikely to kick in before then. That law could also remain on hold if the Trump administration gets a further stay from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bonta, in a statement, didn’t specify how the state would respond to the split rulings.

“Safe communities thrive on transparency and trust and California is committed to doing our part to uphold public safety and civil liberties,” he said.

Click here to read the full article in Politico

 

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Private prison company sells two of California’s immigrant detention centers to the feds

July 8, 2026 By Wendy Fry and Nigel Duara Leave a Comment

The private prison company CoreCivic has sold two of the largest immigration detention facilities in California to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a deal worth $1.5 billion, the company announced Monday.

CoreCivic said it anticipates that the sale of the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County and the California City Detention Facility in Kern County will bring the company an estimated net proceeds of approximately $1.1 billion.

The sale closed on July 2, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with the federal government paying $739.2 million for the 1,994-bed Otay Mesa facility and $732.6 million for the newly-opened 2,560-bed California City facility.

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CoreCivic said in a news release that it expects to continue running the day-to-day operations of both facilities under existing contracts with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The company acknowledged in its filing that the terms of those contracts could be renegotiated now that the federal government owns both properties outright.

They also might not be renewed. CoreCivic’s contract in California City contract runs through August 2027, and its Otay Mesa contract is in effect through December 2029, with an option to extend for five more years.

The purchase comes as the Department of Homeland Security sits on an unprecedented influx of cash. The 2025 federal budget gave the department roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and detention, including $45 billion specifically earmarked for expanding detention capacity through fiscal year 2029.

The acquisition of the two sites is another step in the federal government’s plan to build out national immigration detention capacity that isn’t reliant on the two largest private prison contractors, according to a brief from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law from February.

The proposed transition away from private detention was described at the time as the “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative” in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents released by the city of Social Circle, Georgia, where city leadership was worried about the strain on city services from a major detention facility housing between 7,500 and 10,000 people.

“This new model will allow ICE to create an efficient detention network by reducing the total number of contracted detention facilities in use while increasing total bed capacity, enhancing custody management, and streamlining removal operations,” according to the unsigned ICE memo.

The Department of Homeland Security’s purchasing program surprised local officials in at least five states, who only learned of the purchases and their purpose after the deals closed. Some of those projects have run into legal challenges, according to the New York Times, though the agency appears to be moving forward with four warehouse acquisitions.

Health inspections at ICE centers

California law allows state and local officials to inspect immigrant detention centers, and Democratic leaders have drawn attention to conditions inside since President Donald Trump began his second term. Eight ICE detention centers are operating within the state, up from six since former President Joe Biden left office.

Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat, has visited both of the sites CoreCivic sold to the federal government and spoken up for the needs of detainees, including access to healthcare.

Click here to read the full article in CalMatters

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Another Criminal Illegal Alien allegedly Murders Family in California Because of Newsom/Democrat Sanctuary Laws

June 3, 2026 By Staff 1 Comment

California’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 4,561 criminal illegal aliens since January 20

There is shocking news that yet another criminal illegal alien residing in California is accused of murdering three: an infant along with the child’s mother and grandmother in a brutal triple murder.

California sanctuary laws defy federal immigration laws by drastically limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. State and local law enforcement agencies generally do not systematically record or report immigration status for all arrests.

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Breitbart reports the details:

Joaquin Escoto Vazquez, a 28-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested by the Modesto Police Department and charged with homicide and cruelty towards a child after allegedly murdering an infant, the child’s 23-year-old mother, Fabiola Gonzalez-Nunez, and the child’s 54-year-old grandmother, Maria Sylvia Nunez-Villalobos.

According to police, Vazquez allegedly stabbed the three victims at a residence in Modesto. When police arrived on the scene, Vazquez was gone, but the infant, Gonzalez-Nunez, and Nunez-Villalobos were found with stab wounds.

Gonzalez-Nunez and Nunez-Villalobos were pronounced dead at the scene, while the infant was rushed to a hospital and later pronounced dead.

So how many illegal aliens residing in California have been arrested for murder?

There is no precise, publicly available total for the number who have been arrested for murder. California’s sanctuary policies limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and state and local agencies do not systematically record or report immigration status for all arrests.

In July 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice issued requests to sheriffs in multiple major California counties – including Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties – for lists of all inmates in their jails who are not citizens of the United States, their crimes of arrest or conviction, and their scheduled release dates.

But that request didn’t go anywhere.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna reported that his department does not maintain a list or database of inmates by immigration or citizenship status because they do not routinely ask about legal status. Luna emphasized adherence to California’s sanctuary law, the fraudulently named “California Values Act”, Senate Bill 54, and county policies, which limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto reported that his department does not participate in civil immigration enforcement and will not act as an “arm” of it.

The Alameda County Sheriff reported that they hadn’t received the formal DOJ request and maintained limited or zero-contact policies with ICE for civil matters, honoring only criminal judicial warrants.

SB 54 defies federal immigration law by permitting, abetting and harboring illegal aliens.

However, according to the Department of Homeland Security, as of February 6, 2026, regarding ICE detainers in California jails, ICE had active detainers for over 33,000 criminal non-citizens in California custody, including murderers, sex offenders, and drug traffickers. 

“California’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 4,561 criminal illegal aliens since January 20. The crimes of these aliens include 31 homicides, 661 assaults, 574 burglaries, 184 robberies, 1,489 dangerous drugs offenses, 379 weapons offenses, and 234 sexual predatory offenses,” DHS reported.

Click here to read the full article in the California Globe

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Rep Tom McClintock Exposes Deadly Sanctuary Policies in Explosive Hearing

May 17, 2026 By Megan Barth 2 Comments

California remains the largest offender of DHS sanctuary jurisdictions violations

House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Chairman Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) chaired a high-stakes hearing Thursday exposing the deadly consequences of so-called sanctuary policies, using Fairfax County, Virginia, as a case study in how local officials prioritize illegal aliens over public safety.

In his opening statement and pointed questioning, McClintock dismantled the “nullification” doctrine embraced by sanctuary jurisdictions, likening it to John C. Calhoun’s failed states’ rights theory that once threatened the Republic. “These nullification or sanctuary jurisdictions now extend to 11 states–coincidentally the same number as the old Confederacy,” he stated.

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McClintock zeroed in on Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano and Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, both of whom have openly limited cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are registered Democrats. Descano has boasted that his office makes “charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences,” arguing that deportation as a consequence of crime is a “perversion of justice.” McClintock called this a true perversion of equal justice under the law, noting it has triggered a Department of Justice Civil Rights Division investigation.

The hearing featured the tragic case of Stephanie Minter, a 41-year-old woman stabbed to death while waiting for a bus on February 23, 2026. Her accused killer, Abdul Jalloh, an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record including trespass, drug possession, theft, larceny, and multiple malicious wounding arrests, had been in Fairfax custody at least 18 times between January 2023 and February 2026. Descano dismissed nearly all charges, and Sheriff Kincaid released him despite an ICE detainer. Fairfax County Police had warned Descano that Jalloh had “stabbed multiple people, sexually assaulted at least one woman,” and that it was “not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again.” McClintock noted that three of Fairfax County’s seven homicides last year were committed by illegal aliens who could have been deported.

In a heated exchange captured on video and shared by the House Judiciary GOP, McClintock grilled Descano on another case involving an illegal immigrant who attempted to rape a 4-year-old girl. “I understand he was later taken into custody by ICE and deported. I’m just curious, did you notify ICE of that release?” McClintock asked. Descano admitted, “We did not call ICE.” McClintock replied pointedly: “The 4-year-old’s mother had to call to get him out of your community.”

McClintock also dismantled the officials’ excuse that they require a federal judicial warrant to honor ICE detainers. Turning to former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, McClintock confirmed that such warrants are legally impossible for civil immigration matters. “So they’re basically lying to the public,” McClintock stated. “They’re counting on the public not understanding that what they’re asking for is legally impossible.”

“These policies seem reckless, dangerous, crazy, wanton and cruel,” McClintock declared. “A long list of violent crimes perpetrated by criminal illegal aliens these officials had in their custody and refused to prosecute and refused to remove from their communities answers that question with poignancy.”

McClintock highlighted how similar sanctuary policies plague his home state, where sanctuary laws forbid local cooperation with ICE. Santa Clara County stands out with the worst ICE detainer compliance record in the nation. Public records obtained by America First Legal reveal that, from January 1, 2025, through January 2026, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office received 529 ICE detainer requests and honored none of them, releasing all 529 criminal aliens that ICE sought to detain back into the community.

Santa Clara County Sheriff Robert “Bob” Jonsen, a registered Democrat elected in 2022 with strong support from Democratic leaders and organizations. During his 2022 campaign, his team explicitly stated he was “the only Democrat and only pro-choice candidate on the ballot.” He received the endorsement of Planned Parenthood and has been vocal in defending the county’s non-cooperation. Jonsen has repeatedly stated that his office does not enforce civil immigration detainers or notify ICE of upcoming releases, in accordance with California’s sanctuary law (SB 54) and county policy. “We do NOT enforce civil immigration actions or detainers,” the Sheriff’s Office has emphasized under his leadership. Jonsen has also publicly refused to support ICE operations, including during major events like the Super Bowl, declaring his department “will not be working or supporting ICE Immigration Enforcement.”

Click here to read the full article in the California Globe

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Trump says ICE agents will deploy to U.S. airports Monday

March 23, 2026 By Samantha Masunaga and Mark Olsen 1 Comment
  • On Saturday, President Trump posted to social media that ICE agents would be sent to U.S. airports to assist with security.
  • TSA has suffered staff shortages amid the partial government shutdown as a result of a battle in Congress over funding ICE and Homeland Security, resulting in long lines at airports
  • Border advisor Tom Homan says ICE agents will be deployed to airports as soon as Monday.

What began as a social media post from President Trump on Saturday has grown quickly into a full-scale plan to deploy ICE agents to U.S. airports.

Amid a partial government shutdown, Transportation Security Administration lines have grown to be hours long at some U.S. airports, creating problems for travelers across the country. Call-out rates have started to increase at some airports, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said at least 376 TSA agents have quit since the partial shutdown began Feb. 14.

By Sunday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that ICE would indeed deploy to airports beginning Monday.

White House border advisor Tom Homan provided additional details earlier in the day during a televised interview, saying that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to dispatch agents to airports and that he was working with other officials to determine where to send agents.

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“It’s a work in progress,” Homan said during a Sunday appearance on CNN. “But we will be at airports tomorrow helping TSA move those lines along.”

Homan stressed that ICE agents would provide support where possible, so that TSA staffers could better fulfill specialized positions.

“I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine, because they are not trained in that,” Homan said.

But communication about how exactly this plan would work has been spotty. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers, has not received any communication from Homeland Security on this issue and first learned about it in Trump’s Truth Social post, as well as through the press, said Jacqueline Simon, the union’s policy director.

Dispatching ICE agents to airports does nothing to solve the problem at hand, which is that TSA officers have not been paid for more than a month, she said.

“It’s ridiculous, and it’s potentially dangerous,” Simon said. “It creates a security risk, it doesn’t solve one.”

In a statement Sunday, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said Trump’s push to send ICE into airports “is proving the problem in real time.”

“ICE has become the president’s lawless, under-trained, personal police force, deployed to serve his agenda — not the law,” according to the statement. “That’s exactly why it needs to be reined in.”

Click here to read the full article in the LA Times

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Schiff, Padilla leading effort to rein in ICE

January 31, 2026 By Kevin Rector,Ana Ceballos and Seema Mehta 1 Comment

Senators help reach deal to buy more time for changes to agency and avoid shutdown.

California Democrats have assumed leading roles in their party’s counteroffensive to the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown — seizing on a growing sense, shared by some Republicans, that the campaign has gotten so out of hand that the political winds have shifted heavily in their favor.

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They stalled Department of Homeland Security funding in the Senate and pushed the impeachment of Secretary Kristi Noem in the House. They strategized against a threatened move by President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and challenged administration policies and street tactics in federal court. And they have shown up in Minneapolis to express outrage and demanded Department of Justice records following two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens there.

The push comes at an extremely tense moment, as Minneapolis and the nation reel from the fatal weekend shooting of Alex Pretti, and served as an impetus for a spending deal reached late Thursday between Senate Democrats and the White House to avertanother partial government shutdown. The compromise would allow lawmakers to fund large parts of the federal government while giving them more time to negotiate new restrictions for immigration agents.

“This is probably one of the few windows on immigration specifically where Democrats find themselves on offense,” said Mike Madrid, a California Republican political consultant. “It is a rare and extraordinary moment.”

Both of the state’s Democratic senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, came out in staunch opposition to the latest Homeland Security funding measure in Congress, vowing to block it unless the administration scales back its street operations and reins in masked agents who have killed Americans in multiple shootings, clashed with protesters and provoked communities with aggressive tactics.

Under the agreement reached Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security will be funded for two weeks — a period that in theory will allow lawmakers to negotiate guardrails for the federal agency. The measure still will need to be approved by the House, though it is not clear when they will hold a vote — meaning a short shutdown still could occur even if the Senate deal is accepted.

Padilla negotiated with the White House to separate the controversial measures in question — to provide $64.4 billion for Homeland Security and $10 billion specifically for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — from a broader spending package that also funds the Pentagon, the State Department and health, education and transportation agencies.

Senate Democrats vowed to not give more money to federal immigration agencies, including ICE and Customs and Border Protection, unless Republicans agree to require agents to wear body cameras, take off masks during operations and stop making arrests and searching homes without judicial warrants. All Senate Democrats and seven Senate Republicans blocked passage of the broader spending package earlier Thursday.

“Anything short of meaningful, enforceable reforms for Trump’s out-of-control ICE and CBP is a non-starter,” Padilla said in a statement after the earlier vote. “We need real oversight, accountability and enforcement for both the agents on the ground and the leaders giving them their orders. I will not vote for anything less.”

Neither Padilla nor Schiff immediately responded to requests for comment on the deal late Thursday.

Even if Democrats block Homeland Security funding after the two-week deal expires, immigration operations would not stop. That’s because ICE received $75 billion under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year — part of an unprecedented $178 billion provided to Homeland Security through the mega-bill.

Trump said Thursday that he was working “in a very bipartisan way” to reach a compromise on the funding package. “Hopefully we won’t have a shutdown; we are working on that right now,” he said. “I think we are getting close. I don’t think Democrats want to see it either.”

The administration has eased its tone and admitted mistakes in its immigration enforcement campaign since Pretti’s killing, but hasn’t backed down completely or paused operations in Minneapolis, as critics demanded.

This week Padilla and Schiff joined other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in calling on the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by immigration agents in Minneapolis. In a letter addressed to Assistant Atty. Gen. for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, they questioned her office’s decision to forgo an investigation, saying it reflected a trend of “ignoring the enforcement of civil rights laws in favor of carrying out President Trump’s political agenda.”

Dhillon did not respond to a request for comment. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said there is “currently no basis” for such an investigation.

Schiff also has been busy preparing his party for any move by Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would give the president broad authority to deploy military troops into American cities. Trump has threatened to take that move, which would mark a dramatic escalation of his immigration campaign.

A spokesperson confirmed to The Times that Schiff briefed fellow Democrats during a caucus lunch Wednesday on potential strategies for combating such a move.

“President Trump and his allies have been clear and intentional in laying the groundwork to invoke the Insurrection Act without justification and could exploit the very chaos that he has fueled in places like Minneapolis as the pretext to do so,” Schiff said in a statement. “Whether he does so in connection with immigration enforcement or to intimidate voters during the midterm elections, we must not be caught flat-footed if he takes such an extreme step to deploy troops to police our streets.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, announced he will serve as one of three Democrats leading an impeachment inquiry into Noem, whom Democrats have blasted for allowing and excusing violence by agents in Minneapolis and other cities.

Garcia called the shootings of Good and Pretti “horrific and shocking,” so much so that even some Republicans are acknowledging the “severity of what happened” — creating an opening for Noem’s impeachment.

“It’s unacceptable what’s happening right now, and Noem is at the top of this agency that’s completely rogue,” he said Thursday. “People are being killed on the streets.”

Click here to read the full article in the LA Times

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Speaker Rivas backs government shutdown over ICE as GOP lawmakers back Trump

January 30, 2026 By Andrew Graham 1 Comment

Flanked by dozens of lawmakers from each chamber, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, called on both his national party’s leaders and on California Republicans to reign in the federal government after this weekend’s death in Minneapolis. Rivas and other lawmakers also said Congressional Democrats should shut the government down for the second time in less than three months rather than further fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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“I’m calling on our national Democrat leaders to stand resolutely against this president,” Rivas said, “if that means shutting down the federal government, then so be it.” Rivas made the comments at a news conference where Senate President Monique Limón, D-Goleta, and other state lawmakers also reacted to an immigration officer fatally shooting Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti over the weekend. The death drove thousands out into bitterly cold temperatures to protest in that city as well as Washington D.C. and New York City. President Donald Trump and other members of his administration have said federal agents opened fire to defend themselves after Pretti of approached them with a gun, though video evidence is at odd with their account.

Footage of the killing recorded by other witnesses at the scene shows that Pretti was “clearly holding a phone, not a gun,” according to the New York Times, and that agents had wrestled him to the ground before the gunfire.

Click to read the full article at the Sacramento Bee

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California Democrats have new plans for confronting ICE: Taxes, lawsuits and location bans

January 29, 2026 By Cayla Mihalovich and Maya C. Miller 2 Comments

Keeping up with your California representatives felt impossible before. Now you can watch them like a hawk: Sign up for My Legislator, your weekly, personalized report that tracks what your state representatives say and do.

California Democratic senators advanced a measure Tuesday that would make it easier for people to sue federal agents over civil rights violations, a bill shaped by fears of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement practices.

The bill from Sens. Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab, both Bay Area Democrats, took on additional significance after federal agents gunned down Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen and ICU nurse, in Minnesota last weekend. Senators discussed the measure on the floor for more than 90 minutes before voting along party lines, 30 to 10, to send it to the Assembly.

“It’s a sad statement on where we are in this country that this has to be a partisan issue,” Wiener said just before the vote on his bill, which is also known as the “No Kings Act”. “Red, blue, everyone has constitutional rights. And everyone should have the ability to hold people accountable when they violate those rights.”

It’s among several bills lawmakers are moving forward in the new year to confront an escalation of aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and to protect immigrant communities. They include bills that would tax for-profit detention companies, prohibit law enforcement officers from moonlighting as federal agents and attempt to curb courthouse arrests.

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Those efforts follow a slate of legislation signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year to resist the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in California, including a first-in-the nation measure to prohibit officers from wearing masks and others that limit their access to schools and hospitals. 

While some of those laws are facing legal challenges, the new batch of proposals offer “practical solutions that are squarely within the state’s control,” said Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director at California Immigrant Policy Center.

Here’s a look at some of the key bills lawmakers are considering:

No moonlighting as a federal agent

Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat from Culver City, authored a bill that would prohibit law enforcement from taking a side job as a federal immigration agent. 

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