San Jose City Council unanimously voted to mandate that federal immigration agents operating in the city remove their face masks and properly identify themselves at its Sept. 30 meeting. Mayor Matt Mahan was not present for the vote.
“Federal agents are to display visible identification, and the prohibition of the use of face coverings unless necessary,” San Jose District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz said. “These protections are not just about procedure. They are about dignity, fairness and public trust.”
The decision comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 627, known as the No Secret Police Act, in Los Angeles on Sept. 20; the act, which takes effect on Jan. 1, requires federal agents, including Immigration and Custom Enforcement as well as Border Patrol agents, to display proper identification and the removal of face coverings unless necessary.
The Department of Homeland Security, in response, claimed the bill endangers federal agents “at a time when ICE law enforcement faces a 1,000% increase in assaults.”
“The sitting Governor of California signed unconstitutional legislation that strips law enforcement of protections in a disgusting, diabolical fundraising and PR stunt,” the department wrote in a post on X.
Kimberly Woo, a community organizer for the Services Immigrant Rights Education Network, said that the affected immigrant communities are wary of leaving their homes.
“They (immigrant communities) are worried about going to community events, wondering if the person next to them is going to kidnap them or detain them,” Woo said.
The Migration Policy Institute estimates that 141,000 undocumented immigrants live in Santa Clara County.
During the meeting, Sean Allen, head of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, said the city should hold federal agents to the same standards as local law enforcement and that “the reality of these actions has a lot to do with racial profiling.”
“We (Santa Clara County) have law enforcement levels at the federal level, within our communities, acting like criminals,” Allen said. “We (the United States) are a country comprised of immigrants. We’re clearly discriminating against certain people and inhibiting their pathway to becoming naturalized citizens.”
Of the California Community Colleges’ 2.1 million registered students, Immigrants Rising, a San Francisco-based organization, estimates that around 50,000 to 70,000 are undocumented; that’s one in every 30 to 50 students systemwide.
“As federal agents, you should be very transparent as to who you are, just as any other federal worker,” Daniela Placencia Delgado, program coordinator for both the Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action and Higher Education for AB 540 Students, said.
“As open as they (ICE) are to specifically taking families, they don’t want to face backlash, so it’s very hypocritical of them,” she said.
The council tasked City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood with creating the formal ordinance for this bill within 60 days of the initial vote, or by Saturday, Nov. 29.
“I think this is just one measure of safety that can empower immigrants to feel safe among our communities,” Woo said.
