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

California Democrats have advanced legislation that would make it easier for individuals to sue federal agents over civil rights violations, a move largely motivated by concerns about Trump-era immigration enforcement tactics. The measure, known as the “No Kings Act,” passed the state Senate Tuesday along party lines with a 30-10 vote and now heads to the Assembly.

The bill, authored by Bay Area Democratic Senators Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab, gained additional urgency following the shooting of Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen and ICU nurse, by federal agents in Minnesota last weekend.

“It’s a sad statement on where we are in this country that this has to be a partisan issue,” Wiener remarked before the vote. “Red, blue, everyone has constitutional rights. And everyone should have the ability to hold people accountable when they violate those rights.”

This legislation is part of a broader package of bills California lawmakers are advancing to address increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement and protect immigrant communities. Other measures include proposals to tax for-profit detention companies, ban law enforcement officers from moonlighting as federal agents, and limit courthouse arrests.

These efforts build upon legislation signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last year aimed at resisting federal mass deportation efforts in California, including first-in-the-nation prohibitions on officers wearing masks and limitations on their access to schools and hospitals.

While some of these existing laws face legal challenges, Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director at California Immigrant Policy Center, described the new proposals as “practical solutions that are squarely within the state’s control.”

Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat from Culver City, has authored a bill to close what he describes as a significant loophole in current law. His legislation would prohibit law enforcement officers from taking side jobs as federal immigration agents, a practice he says the federal administration is actively recruiting for in California.

“While you can’t collaborate with ICE while you are working in your police shift, you can take a second job with the Department of Homeland Security. And I don’t think that that is right,” Bryan explained at a recent press conference in San Francisco.

In another measure, Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes, a Democrat from San Bernardino, has introduced legislation to prevent federal immigration agents from making “unannounced and indiscriminate” arrests in courthouses.

“One of the core responsibilities of government is to protect people — not to inflict terror on them,” Gómez Reyes stated. “California is not going to let the federal government make political targets out of people trying to be good stewards of the law.”

This bill follows a recent federal court ruling that ordered the U.S. Justice Department to halt civil arrests in immigration courts across Northern California, citing “chilling effects, safety risks, and impacts on hearing attendance.”

Additional courthouse protections are being championed by Senator Susan Rubio, a Democrat from West Covina, who has introduced legislation to allow remote courthouse appearances for most civil or criminal state court proceedings until January 2029.

Assemblymember Matt Haney, a Democrat from San Francisco, has proposed a 50% tax on profits from immigration detention centers. Currently, over 5,700 people are being held in seven immigration detention facilities across California, with three located in Kern County.

Cheer from the California Immigrant Policy Center noted that the early introduction of these bills demonstrates increased urgency from state legislators. “My hope for this year is that the state can be as bold and innovative as possible seeing the crisis communities are facing from immigration enforcement,” she said.

Republicans have criticized the measures as overstepping into federal jurisdiction. Senator Tony Strickland, a Republican representing Huntington Beach, argued that cities and states should abandon “sanctuary” policies that limit coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

“At the end of the day, we have a lot of serious issues here in California, and we need to start focusing on California-specific issues,” Strickland contended.

Kevin Johnson, an immigration law professor and former dean of the UC Davis School of Law, observed that state and local governments are trying to determine how far they can go in resisting federal immigration enforcement while risking potential funding cuts from the federal government.

“While there’s concern and fear in immigrant communities, there’s some solace being given by the support expressed by state and local officials,” Johnson said. “As the Trump administration escalates its aggressive deportation tactics across the nation, California has escalated its resistance.”