In the midst of Gavin Newsom’s intensive war of words with President Donald Trump — and defiance of his policies — the governor has signed legislation strengthening protections for California students and families from immigration enforcement activity on school campuses.
Newsom signed a flurry of bills over the weekend pushing back against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics, including a first-of-its-kind law prohibiting federal law enforcement and immigration officers from hiding their identities and barring agents from school campuses and healthcare facilities without a warrant or court order.
The legislation comes as Trump has promised mass deportations of immigrants in the United States. The president made it clear that school campuses would not be exempt from his anti-immigration agenda when he rescinded a 2011 policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from accessing school campuses and other “sensitive” locations.
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Since then, schools across the Bay Area and state have reassured families that they would not allow immigration officers on campus or release student data without a warrant and many took protections a step further by designating their campuses as “safe havens” from immigration activity.
The California Department of Education said that since spring 2025, impacts of immigration enforcement on California schools have included an incident in which a Los Angeles elementary school was sent into lockdown after federal agents set off flashbang grenades near the campus, another where agents urinated on a playground in broad daylight, and others where agents asked for direct contact with young children without a warrant or parent permission, or used school drop-off as an opportunity to detain parents.
“Public safety depends on trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve — but Trump and (Stephen) Miller have shattered that trust and spread fear across America,” Newsom said in a statement. “California is putting an end to it and making sure schools and hospitals remain what they should be: places of care, not chaos.”
The legislative package Newsom signed includes two bills designed to further protections for students and families on California school campuses — AB 49 and SB 98.
Introduced by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat who represents Torrance, AB 49 — the California Safe Haven Schools Act — prohibits school employees across the state from allowing immigration officers on campuses or sharing student information without a warrant or court order. The bill also requires immigration officers who are allowed on school campuses to be restricted to areas where students are not present.
“Students cannot learn or thrive if they live in fear of deportation or family separation,” said Muratsuchi in a statement. “I want all of our students—but especially our immigrant students—to hear this message: you have a right to an education, and California will always stand with you.”
The Santa Clara County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Board of Education co-sponsored the bill and said more than 165,000 students in the county live in a mixed-immigration status household and many families live in fear or are hesitant to sent their children to school.
“Our county has the largest concentration of immigrant families in California and AB 49 strengthens the protections schools have to turn away immigration enforcement,” said Santa Clara County Superintendent Dr. David Toston in a statement.
Newsom also signed SB 98, known as the Sending Alerts to Families in Education (SAFE) Act. Introduced by state senator Sasha Renée Pérez, who represents Pasadena, the SAFE Act requires K-12 schools and universities to notify students and staff when immigration enforcement officers are present on campus.
As a result of the new legislation, all local educational agencies must make local policies regarding immigration enforcement available to the California Department of Education by March 2026.
“The reckless actions of the Trump administration have sown fear and trauma throughout California school communities,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond. “As the son and grandson of immigrants, I am proud to stand with our immigrant communities to ensure school campuses are safe and accessible to all families.”
Ritu Mahajan Estes, an attorney with the largest pro bono law firm in the nation, Public Counsel and leader of the firm’s Community Development Project, which provides legal support to nonprofits and small businesses, explained that while sidewalks and parks are considered public spaces accessible to all — including immigration agents — public schools are generally considered private spaces that require officers to have a court order or warrant in order to enter.
Mahajan Estes said that often agents do not have documentation when trying to enter private spaces or speak to people because warrants are hard to get and require certain intel as to why agents are looking for a person or want to look in a certain space.
“Under the Fourth Amendment, we all have a right against unreasonable searches and seizures,” she said. “Based on what we’re seeing, it doesn’t appear that the agents want to go through that process because they often don’t even have probable cause or reasonable position. They’re just driving around and grabbing people who look brown, who look like they may not be from here.”
Mahajan Estes said her firm has conducted weekly trainings since January to ensure businesses and families know their rights when it comes to immigration enforcement. She said those rights include the right to remain silent and not answer agents’ questions, the right to ask for a warrant and refuse entry without a warrant, the right to request identification and the right to document and record the interaction and ask for a lawyer.
“Everybody in this country, regardless of their immigration status, has rights under the constitution,” she said.