The Brief

Masked federal officers, descending on workplaces and immigration courts in dramatic scenes across the country, have drawn comparisons to secret police in authoritarian regimes.

But under a new state bill from two Bay Area lawmakers, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers and others would have to identify themselves while working in California. The legislation introduced Monday by state Sens. Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D–Berkeley) would prevent police at all levels from covering their faces with masks or balaclavas while working — and would require them to be identifiable via uniform.

“We are seeing more and more law enforcement officers, particularly at the federal level, be in our community covering their faces entirely, not identifying themselves at all,” Wiener said at a press conference at San Francisco City Hall. “You can’t tell — are these law enforcement officers or a vigilante militia?”

Senate Bill 627, dubbed the No Secret Police Act, comes as tensions have escalated between the state and the Trump administration, which has vowed to carry out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history.

No specific federal law requires law enforcement to wear uniforms or show their faces during arrests. Meanwhile, images of masked ICE agents forcing people into unmarked police vans have proliferated on social media, catalyzing debate over whether such arrest tactics are a form of intimidation.

Sen. Jesse Arreguín speaks during a press conference with leaders from community groups throughout Alameda County in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland on Jan. 22, 2025, to discuss support for immigrant families in the Bay Area after President Donald Trump promised mass deportations.

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Beth LaBerge

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KQED

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Arreguín and Wiener say the masks allow officers to evade accountability for their actions, adding that more transparency is needed around who is conducting these immigration operations.

“People covering their faces, impersonating police officers — it erodes trust in law enforcement and it undermines community safety,” Arreguín said.

ICE declined to comment on the bill, saying that the agency does not comment on pending legislation. But in an emailed statement, an ICE spokesperson maintained that masks and other anonymizing practices are essential to prevent “doxxing,” or the collection of someone’s information online to shame or harass them, following high-profile ICE raids in Los Angeles and the mass protests that followed.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fully respects the Constitutional rights of all people to express their opinions peacefully,” the statement said. “That being said, ICE remains committed to performing its immigration enforcement mission professionally in a manner consistent with federal law and agency policy.”

Recently, a North Texas man was charged in federal court for threatening to shoot and kill ICE agents on April 7, the spokesperson added.

In San Francisco, ICE has requested journalists blur officers’ faces after a San Francisco Standard reporter took cellphone images of arrests outside immigration court and published those images.

Critics have been quick to point out what they say is hypocrisy surrounding ICE officers’ tendency to wear masks.

On June 8, President Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that protesters should not be allowed to wear masks, asking, “What do these people have to hide, and why?”

His administration has also criticized student protesters for wearing masks while protesting the war in Gaza.

Masked immigration officers can create a lot of “confusion,” the state lawmakers behind the new bill said.

“It is critically important that people know who they’re interacting with and that they’re interacting with actual law enforcement officers,” Wiener said.

Meanwhile, a federal bill introduced in Congress this month by Rep. Mike Thompson (D–St. Helena) would prohibit immigration officers from wearing clothing that bears the word “police.”

According to the National Immigrant Justice Center, immigration enforcement will often introduce themselves as police officers even though they are not legally considered to be so. That can confuse immigrant communities and sour the relationship with local police, Thompson argued.

News of the California bill also followed what authorities have labeled a political assassination in Minnesota by a man posing as a police officer.

Vance Boelter, 57, is accused of targeting two politicians, fatally shooting Democratic Rep. Melissa Holtman and her husband, Mark. Boelter currently faces federal murder charges for the attacks.

Some critics have raised concerns that immigration officers operating in masks and unmarked vehicles could sow distrust and make it easier for bad actors to pose as law enforcement.

May gray has come and gone, and now it's time for June gloom.

Overcast skies will be present this morning, especially along the beaches and valleys closest to the coast. Otherwise, we're in for a partly cloudy afternoon.

Today's temperatures at L.A. County beaches will stay around 66 to 71 degrees, and reach 76 to 80 degrees for places more inland.

In Orange County, expect similar temperatures with highs from 67 to 74 degrees for Huntington Beach and surrounding areas. More inland areas like Anaheim and Garden Grove will see temperatures of up to 79 degrees.

Moving on to L.A. County valleys, expect high temperatures in the low to mid 80s.

In the Inland Empire, temperatures will range 80 to 89 degrees.

Election Day is here, but now comes the waiting.

Do you have something to watch on Netflix? Maybe you've been meaning to pick up a hobby — how about crochet? Whatever you do, take a deep breath and keep busy because it could be days (or weeks) before we get some California election results.

The state is often knocked by the rest of the country as being "slow" to count votes. But here's the deal: that's a feature, not a bug, of the election system.

The backstory

Things take a while here largely because California works so hard to expand the ways people can vote. For example:

• Californians in recent years overwhelmingly vote by mail — nearly 90% of votes cast in the 2024 presidential election were mail-in ballots. In that same year's primary the percentage was just as high. Those ballots can be postmarked up to and including Election Day. They're counted as long as the ballot arrives within seven days (for the June primary, that's June 9).
• California offers same-day voter registration at any voting center. These new voters must cast a provisional ballot, which is counted once election officials confirm their eligibility (they are overwhelmingly accepted — for example, Los Angeles County reports that historically between 85% to 90% have been counted.
• Voters also have the right to cast provisional ballots if there's any problem on election day — like if poll workers aren't able to void an outstanding mail-in ballot, or if there’s any issue calling up voter information from e-pollbooks. Again (see above), provisionals take longer to process because eligibility has to be confirmed.
• Vote-by-mail ballots require signature matching. When the one received doesn't match the one on file, county registrars must contact that voter to let them know — and give them the chance to correct it.
• And, with more than 23 million registered voters, we're really, really big. In the 2024 general election more than 16 million Californians voted (down from nearly 18 million in the 2020 presidential election). Either way, that’s more people than the total populations of all but three other states.

Why things have sped up, some

But things have sped up considerably in the 30 counties that have adopted a 2016 law called the Voter's Choice Act, including L.A., Orange and Riverside counties. In recent elections, the changes associated with that law — like voters not being locked into a designated polling location — drastically cut down the number of provisional ballots cast, which helped move things along faster than they had before.

A closer look at ballot counting times in California where an increasing number of vote-by-mail ballots has slowed ballot counts.

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Courtesy California Voter Foundation

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Still, accuracy and a commitment to "expanding the franchise" — translation: allowing more people to vote — means the process is not designed to produce instantaneous results.

Why you should take a deep breath Election Night

You'll have to get that endorphin hit elsewhere on June 2.

A few things to keep in mind: You may recall that during the 2024 primary, it took about a week to call the results for L.A. City Council races in District 4, where incumbent Nithya Raman was fighting to avoid a runoff election, and District 14, where challenger Ysabel Jurado wound up overtaking incumbent Kevin de León by just a few hundred votes.

It took an even longer 15 days to call the results of Prop. 1, during which opponents conceded, walked back that concession, and conceded again when the measure won by a razor-thin 0.4% margin. And it took 23 days to call the second-place winner for Orange County's 45th congressional district — it ultimately went to Democrat Derek Tran who went on to beat Republican Michelle Steel in the general election. Tran is now up for reelection and rematch with Steel is considered likely in November.

Depending on how close some of these races end up being, we may face similar waits this election cycle.

TL;DR: Officially, county and state election officials have until July 10 to certify election results — including a mandatory audit that requires hand-counting all of the ballots at 1% of precincts. Nevertheless, you're going to see a lot of national media headlines about California's relative "slowness." Brush it off. We have sunshine, beaches, and a highly enfranchised population.