Newsom Vetoes 'GTFO Act' Barring Former ICE Agents From California Jobs, Two Days After Signing 21 Other Immigration Bills

Since Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 21 immigration-enforcement bills on Tuesday, September 29, he has vetoed two companion measures that would have gone further, blocking former federal immigration agents from state and local government jobs entirely.

The vetoes, made public Wednesday, September 30, hit Assembly Bill 1896, the so-called "Get the Feds Out" or GTFO Act, and Assembly Bill 1537. Both came from Los Angeles-area Democrats and both died on Newsom's desk despite his having just signed a broader package targeting federal immigration enforcement in the state.

What Newsom Killed

AB 1896, backed by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and authored by Assemblymember Mark González (D-Los Angeles), would have disqualified anyone who worked immigration enforcement, including as a contractor, from being hired by any police or sheriff's department in California unless they completed a state basic training course. It also would have made former immigration officers ineligible for other city and county jobs across the board.

Newsom said that went too far. "It is a mistake to discourage empathetic and qualified Americans from working in the federal government, or choosing to leave long-standing employment with the federal government because they find the current administration's policies and tactics reprehensible," he wrote in his veto letter, according to the Los Angeles Times. He noted that public employment already requires personal conduct evaluations and argued that holding the Trump administration and individual agents accountable is Congress's job, not California's.

AB 1537, from Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Culver City), would have barred sworn California peace officers from taking secondary jobs or contract work doing immigration enforcement. Newsom rejected that one too, saying officers already answer to conduct standards that can cost them their badge, and that banning "secondary employment law enforcement officers choose to do in their free time" wasn't the right fix.

Gonzalez called the veto disappointing but said the broader fight isn't over. "From the beginning, the GTFO Act was about a simple principle: We should never use public dollars to reward conduct that has caused fear, terror, and pain in our communities," he said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. A spokesperson for Rivas's office said Assembly Democrats are "leading the nation in holding ICE accountable."

What He Kept

The GTFO veto doesn't mean Newsom went soft on immigration enforcement overall. He signed a narrower version Tuesday that bars federal agents from becoming California police officers if their badge was revoked for misconduct, according to the Epoch Times and LA Times.

He also kept the rest of the 21-bill package intact. That includes a ban on electric shock gloves for all officers in the state, federal agents included, which takes effect next year and sunsets in 2030. It includes a 25% tax on private detention centers and the end of a property tax exemption some of those facilities claimed. And it includes the No Kings Act, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which creates a state-law pathway for anyone to sue federal, state, or local officials for constitutional violations, something federal "Bivens" claims have made difficult since a 1971 Supreme Court ruling, per LAist.

"ICE and Border Patrol have terrorized California communities with impunity. That ends today," Wiener said when Newsom signed it.

The pushback on the shock glove ban came from an unexpected corner. Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper, a Democrat and former state lawmaker, said banning a lower-voltage alternative to tasers makes officers' jobs harder, not safer. "When the federal government does something, the state Legislature wants to ban it," Cooper said at a news conference, as reported by the Epoch Times.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson dismissed the whole package in a statement to Head Topics: "No tax will stop ICE from deporting criminal illegal aliens to make California safe again. While California sanctuary politicians continue to release pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and murderers onto their streets, our brave law enforcement..."

The Numbers Driving the Fight

According to LAist, more than 38,000 people have been detained in California since the deportation surge began in February 2025. Breitbart, citing the San Francisco Chronicle, put the statewide ICE arrest total near 50,000, including roughly 6,800 in Southern California and 11,500 in Los Angeles alone as of August.

What's Unresolved

The No Kings Act and several other provisions are expected to face federal court challenges, since states generally cannot dictate federal immigration enforcement, a limit Newsom's own office acknowledged. Whether California's civil-suit pathway against federal agents survives that scrutiny, and whether lawmakers revive the GTFO Act in a narrower form next session, remain open questions heading into 2027.