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Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to protect the privacy of immigration support services providers into law Saturday.
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Assembly Bill 2624, named the “Safe at Work Act,” would allow immigration support services providers to protect themselves from harassment and violence by removing their addresses from the public record. It would also prohibit others from publishing these individuals’ addresses or other personal data online for the purpose of violence or harassment. The measure passed both chambers along party lines.
Opponents of the measure have argued that it will prevent independent journalists from conducting and publishing investigations into immigrant-serving organizations.
Republican lawmakers have taken to calling the legislation the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.” The name references an online political creator whose viral video claimed to uncover more than $100 million in fraud at Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota. In a later video, Shirley made similar allegations of fraud at Somali-run hospice care centers in San Diego.
“(The legislation) makes it harder for investigative reporters like Nick Shirley to do what they’ve done and, quite frankly, I think we need more people looking at how we’re spending our money, and more transparency and accountability,” said Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, in an interview with The Sacramento Bee.
Bill author Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Alameda, and other supporters of the measure maintain that it would only penalize those who publish information with the intent to incite or threaten violence and harassment.
“It is very clear in the legislation,” Bonta said in an April 21 Assembly committee hearing. “Constitutional free speech protections still fully apply. It does not prevent lawful reporting of matters of public concern, and the bill is narrowly focused on preventing misuse of personal information, not restricting lawful speech.”
The measure builds upon the “Safe at Home Act,” existing legislation that extends the same protections to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of abuse, as well as healthcare employees who provide reproductive and gender-affirming treatment.
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The bill would provide participants in the program with a substitute address, shielding their personal information and rerouting their mail through the Secretary of State.
“People are not just worried about what happens at the office, they’re worried about being followed home,” said Monica Madrid, a state policy advocate with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, during an Assembly committee hearing. “No one should have to live like that. AB 2624 is about giving us a basic level of protection so that we can continue doing this work without constantly looking over our shoulders.”
An April 18 video posted to Shirley’s X account featured Shirley approaching Democratic legislators as they walked from the Capitol to their offices on O Street, attracting widespread public awareness of the bill. The legislation’s heightened visibility has drawn harassment targeted at Bonta and members of her team, according to Bonta’s presentation on the Assembly floor Aug. 19.
“Colleagues, I know some of you have felt the heat of this manufactured controversy in your own offices. I have too,” Bonta said. “When we support AB 2624 today, we are not only protecting the people who serve our immigrant neighbors, we are rejecting the idea that policy in this state gets written by hate and driven by clicks.”
Shirley promised that “the fight” against the legislation “is far from over” in a Sunday X post, calling on his followers to attend a rally outside the Capitol this Wednesday.
The legislation is set to take effect Oct. 1, 2027.
“Right now, our immigrant service providers are living in fear because of extremists looking to demonize the work that they do and the populations they serve. That is an intolerable consequence of the anti-immigrant rhetoric that exists right now,” Bonta said in a Saturday statement. “I’m proud that with the signing of this bill California is rejecting that, even when people try to make us feel that the political cost of supporting immigrant communities is too high.”
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