A simple fix to existing California law would unmask ICE agents | Opinion
In a ruling on Feb. 9, a federal district court in Los Angeles was clear that California can prohibit masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents so long as the law is revised to include law enforcement officers at all levels of government. The California legislature should immediately revise the No Secret Police Act to do exactly this.
This will be unnecessary if congressional Democrats succeed in their effort to have federal law prohibit masked ICE agents as a condition for passing a budget for the Department of Homeland Security. But given the strong opposition of President Donald Trump to such a restriction, California should not wait for the federal government and should act quickly to revise its law to make it constitutional.
The No Secret Police Act, which went into law on Jan. 1 in California, prohibits law enforcement officers from wearing a facial covering in the performance of their duties. The law has a number of common sense exceptions, such as for SWAT teams, active undercover officers, tactical operations where protective gear is required for physical safety and where needed for health and safety.
The No Secret Police Act applies to local police officers, police officers from other states and federal law enforcement officers. It does not apply to California state law enforcement officers, such as California Highway Patrol officers.
It was this exclusion that caused the federal district court to conclude that the No Secret Police Act unconstitutionally discriminates against the federal government. It is well established in constitutional law that a state can require that federal officers comply with general laws unless doing so would impose an undue burden on the federal government.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, for example, must comply with state traffic laws except in circumstances where it would unduly limit their ability to perform their duties. But a state cannot discriminate against the federal government.
U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder explained that federal and state law enforcement officers are similarly situated in their tasks, but the No Secret Police Act treats them differently. She thus concluded: “the court finds that the United States is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that the facial covering prohibition of the No Secret Police Act unlawfully discriminates against the federal government in violation of the intergovernmental immunity doctrine.”
Crucially, however, Snyder made clear that the law would be constitutional if it applied to law enforcement officers at all levels of government. She expressly rejected the government’s argument that masking ICE agents is necessary to protect their safety or for effective law enforcement.
“The court finds that the United States has not met its burden to show that enforcement of the challenged provisions, which prohibit law enforcement officers in California from wearing masks and require law enforcement officers in California to have visible identification, would interfere with or take control of federal law enforcement operations,” Snyder wrote.
Snyder rejected the government’s claim that ICE agents need to wear masks to hide their identity in order to protect their safety. The government asserted that ICE agents will be doxed and threatened if people know their identity, but the court found little basis for this concern and stressed that masked ICE agents actually increase tensions and dangers.
In fact, in the same opinion, Snyder upheld another California law, the No Vigilantes Act, which requires any law enforcement officer operating in California to visibly display identification that includes their agency and either a name or badge number to the public when performing their enforcement duties.
The clear conclusion from the court’s decision is that the No Secret Police Act would be constitutional if it applied to state law enforcement officers as well as to all others operating in the state. Thus, the California legislature should immediately revise the act and Gov. Gavin Newsom should sign it into law.
Since the No Secret Police Act was adopted, we have all watched the action of ICE agents in Minnesota in horror and have seen the urgent need for state regulation of their conduct. ICE agents are wearing masks to intimidate — not for any law enforcement purpose. Never before had ICE agents or police in this country felt the need for masking, and it is unnecessary now.
Masked police are common in foreign countries with authoritarian governments. Police officers there want to hide their identity to prevent being held accountable for their misconduct. But masked police do not exist in countries that operate under the rule of law.
Erwin Chemerinsky is dean and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A simple fix to existing California law would unmask ICE agents | Opinion."