The administration of President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against California over new state laws that restrict how federal immigration agents operate, arguing the measures endanger ICE personnel and violate federal authority.
California lawmakers passed legislation banning federal officers from covering their faces with masks and requiring law enforcement to display clear identification showing their agency and badge number while on duty. Democratic legislators said the rules were intended to increase accountability for ICE agents and prevent alleged excessive-force incidents involving migrants, according to reporting by CNBC.
The administration rejected that rationale and argued that California cannot interfere with federal immigration enforcement. The lawsuit says the state’s actions threaten federal officers and obstruct federal law.
“Under his leadership—and in response to the electoral mandate—the Federal Government is employing its available legal measures to end that crisis in accordance with its well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters. This authority derives from the United States Constitution, numerous acts of Congress, and binding United States Supreme Court precedent,” the filing states.
The lawsuit also points to what it describes as a pattern of resistance from California officials.
“California Governor Gavin Newsom has vowed to ‘push[] back’ against the President’s commitment to enforcing our Nation’s immigration laws. His latest resistance—imposing a mask ban and identification requirement on federal agents operating in California—violates the United States Constitution, as even Governor Newsom apparently appreciated when he acknowledged in discussing the mask ban that ‘[i]t appears we don’t have the legal authority for federal agents’,” the filing says.
Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized California lawmakers after the lawsuit was filed. “Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe, and they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties,” Bondi told Politico.
The case marks the latest escalation between California and the Trump administration as federal authorities move to block enforcement of the new restrictions.