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An appeals courtroom on Wednesday blocked California from requiring federal immigration agents to show identification throughout operations, handing the Trump administration a authorized victory over Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
A 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit discovered California overstepped its authority by attempting to regulate Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, marking the most recent flashpoint in a broader battle between blue states and the federal authorities over immigration enforcement operations.
The panel of judges, comprising two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, discovered California’s No Vigilantes Act violated the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which says that when a state and federal law are in battle, the latter wins out.
“We conclude that [section 10] of the No Vigilantes Act attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions,” the panel wrote in an order. “The Supremacy Clause forbids the State from enforcing such legislation.”
APPEALS COURT BLOCKS ORDER LIMITING IMMIGRATION AGENTS’ USE OF FORCE IN CHICAGO
California Gov. Gavin Newsom takes questions from the media. (REUTERS/Fred Greaves)
The determination got here after Newsom signed into law a pair of payments final fall designed to tackle experiences of unidentified federal agents, typically sporting masks and different gear, finishing up arrests and detaining unlawful immigrants in California. The No Vigilantes Act and No Secret Police Act required ICE agents to show identification and banned them from sporting masks, respectively.
“Trump’s ICE agents need to be reined in and held to the same standards as any other law enforcement agency,” Newsom stated in an announcement in March. “Federal accountability and clear identification shouldn’t be optional.”
The Trump administration sued over the 2 payments and sought injunctions, arguing in courtroom papers that “a state law that directly regulates the federal government’s operations is straightforwardly invalid, no matter the size of the burden it imposes.”
ICE has defended the follow of agents concealing their identities throughout operations, saying final summer season as Trump’s intensifying immigration crackdown prompted anti-ICE protests and riots that rhetoric on the left had brought on a spike in “threats and assaults against [agents’] families.”
TRUMP ADMIN URGES NEWSOM TO HONOR ICE DETAINERS FOR MORE THAN 33K CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Residents confront masked federal and Border Patrol agents on Atlantic Boulevard in Bell, Calif., amid controversy over authorities sporting masks throughout ICE raids. (Getty Images)
A federal judge also blocked California’s masks ban in February, and state Democratic lawmakers responded by making an attempt to rewrite the invoice, a course of that is still ongoing.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche recommended the DOJ Civil Division, which has been dealing with the ICE litigation, calling the 9th Circuit’s determination “another decisive victory in this administration’s effort to remove illegal aliens from this country.”
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. lawyer in California, celebrated the win, calling it a “huge legal victory … where the court permanently enjoined California’s unconstitutional mask law targeting federal agents.”
DOJ Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon stated on X, “Told ya!”
Former DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf additionally weighed in, saying: “Finally – a good decision for common sense and strong immigration enforcement.”
White House deputy chief of workers for coverage Stephen Miller is seen outdoors the White House on Oct. 6, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg)
California might attraction the choice. Asked for remark, a Newsom spokesperson advised Fox News Digital undercover ICE agents have been “terrorizing” individuals on the path of Trump and his aide Stephen Miller, the architect of most of the White House‘s immigration insurance policies.
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“These laws shouldn’t even be necessary,” the Newsom spokesperson stated. “We shouldn’t have unidentified, masked men terrorizing our communities. We will continue demanding federal accountability and fighting against Trump and Miller’s reign of terror against our communities.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for remark.
