State Senator Scott Wiener got a law passed prohibiting ICE agents from wearing face coverings in California. We’ll find out when it goes into effect Thursday whether ICE agents will follow that law. Right from the start of the Trump 2.0 administration, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents started snatching anyone remotely Hispanic-looking off the street and throwing them in detention facilities god-knowns-where. And these operations have come with the unprecedented show of lawlessness from law enforcement that the ICE agents have been wearing face masks to conceal their identities.  So back in June, state Senator Scott Wiener and his fellow state Senator Jesse Arreguín proposed a law to ban federal agents from wearing face coverings while on duty in the state of California. That measure sailed easily through the state legislature and Gavin Newsom signed it into law.Now that law officially takes effect on Thursday, January 1, 2026. Come Thursday, it will no longer be legal for ICE agents to wear masks on the job when in California. “Starting on Thursday, ICE agents who terrorize California communities while covering their faces will be in violation of California law and subject to civil and criminal liability,” Wiener said in a Tuesday press release. “There is no legitimate reason for ICE or any law enforcement officer to cover their faces while conducting normal operations, and doing so undermines public safety and erodes trust in law enforcement. If ICE continues to operate as a secret police force in California, we will hold them accountable.”Okay well that’s all well and good Mister State Senator, but is there any way we can enforce this? Federal law generally overrides state law, and I just don’t see feds taking orders from state officials. Plus it's the Trump administration, which has been completely unapologetic about pulling reasons out of their ass to justify all manner of legal violations.Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is not budging on the mask thing. “I would say that they wear masks at times to protect their identities from dangerous situations,” she said at an Illinois press conference shortly before Newsom signed the law. “With the leadership teams, we leave that up to them to discern what’s necessary in certain situations.”The feds have already said they’d sue to overturn the law. But three other states have already started to process of passing similar bans (New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts). So Wiener’s ban in ICE agents wearing masks is unlikely to change anything once it takes effect January 1, but it did start the momentum of legally deciding on what seems like a dubious law enforcement practice to many of us who do not work in law enforcement. Related: Scott Weiner's Latest Bill Would Ban ICE Agents From Wearing Face Coverings in California [SFist]Image: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 04: Federal law enforcement agents stand guard as they are confronted by community members and activists for reportedly shooting a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood on October 04, 2025 in Broadview, Illinois. Residents of the city have become increasingly concerned as Operation Midway Blitz continues in the Chicago area, an operation designed to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants living in the area. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) ...read more read less