Police Chief Jim McDonnell made clear that the Los Angeles Police Department will not enforce California’s mask ban for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The ban, titled the “No Secret Police Act,” went into effect at the beginning of 2026.
ABC 7 quoted McDonnell saying, “The reality of one armed agency approaching another armed agency to create conflict over something that would be a misdemeanor at best, or an infraction, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Los Angeles Magazine noted that McDonnell made clear that while not enforcing the mask ban, the LAPD will continue its practice of not cooperating with ICE on immigration enforcement:
We’ve been solid on that since 1979. That’s been our policy. That’s worked for us. We cannot afford to alienate immigrant communities within Los Angeles. We’ve built up trust over many years, and we can’t afford to lose that trust. We’ve tried to be as clear as we can about what our position is relative to ICE and immigration enforcement. We don’t work with ICE on that.
Pasadena Now noted that state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D) pushed back on McDonnell’s refusal to enforce the mask ban, saying, “LAPD Chief McDonnell’s apparent decision to not enforce California’s, SB 627, the No Secret Police Act, by stating it ‘does not make sense’ is alarming and signals a disregard for his legal obligation to uphold our state laws.”
She added, “A Police Chief does not get to pick and choose which laws will be enforced and which will go ignored.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
