DOJ official fact-checks California Democrat after he falsely claims ICE mask ban is in effect
A Department of Justice official took a jab at a California state senator on Friday after the lawmaker, a Democrat running to succeed retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., erroneously claimed his state began enforcing a mask ban against federal immigration officers.
Jesus Osete, the No. 2 official in the DOJ Civil Rights Division, pointed out that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration agreed in court to temporarily hold off on enforcing the ban while a lawsuit over it plays out.
Osete's remark came in response to San Francisco-based state Sen. Scott Wiener, who posted a video Thursday boasting that the ban was active.
"That’s not what @CAgovernor told a federal judge, my man," Osete wrote on X.
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The Trump administration sued California in November, arguing that two bills, including the No Secret Police Act introduced by Wiener, violated the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which says that when federal and state laws conflict with one another, federal laws win out.
The No Secret Police Act attempted to bar ICE officers from wearing masks in certain circumstances after a series of high-profile immigration raids in the state that involved some officers fully concealing their faces with ski masks.
As part of the lawsuit, California officials agreed in December to hold off on enforcing the mask ban against ICE agents until the court could hear arguments in the case.
Wiener touted that the mask ban went into effect on Jan. 1 in a video he shared online, contradicting what California's attorneys told the court.
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"It's now illegal for ice and other law enforcement to cover their faces in the state of California. Starting today, my new anti-masking law goes into effect," Wiener said.
A federal judge is weighing whether to grant the Trump administration's request for a preliminary injunction against the mask ban, but the briefing schedule stretches through next week and a hearing on the matter is set for Jan. 12.
The judge could make a decision soon after the hearing, and if he were to rule in favor of California, the state could begin enforcing its ban at that point.
California attorneys are fighting the lawsuit, arguing that "armed, masked individuals" carried out arrests of allegedly illegal immigrants, and in doing so, "caused terror throughout California, with the public unsure whether they were interacting with legitimate law enforcement or impostors."
The Trump administration’s lawsuit "ignores [the] careful balance of power between the federal and state governments, seeking to invalidate two California laws. … Each law exercises the State’s historic and long-established police power," state attorneys wrote.
Fox News Digital reached out to Wiener's office for comment.