NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
An appeals court on Wednesday blocked California from requiring federal immigration agents to display identification during operations, handing the Trump administration a legal victory over Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit found California overstepped its authority by trying to regulate Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, marking the latest flashpoint in a broader fight between blue states and the federal government over immigration enforcement operations.
The panel of judges, comprising two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, found California’s No Vigilantes Act violated the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which says that when a state and federal law are in conflict, 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 decision came after Newsom signed into law a pair of bills last fall designed to address reports of unidentified federal agents, sometimes wearing masks and other gear, carrying out arrests and detaining illegal immigrants in California. The No Vigilantes Act and No Secret Police Act required ICE agents to display identification and banned them from wearing masks, respectively.
“Trump’s ICE agents need to be reined in and held to the same standards as any other law enforcement agency,” Newsom said in a statement in March. “Federal accountability and clear identification shouldn’t be optional.”
The Trump administration sued over the two bills and sought injunctions, arguing in court papers that “a state law that directly regulates the…
