September 22, 2026
First-in-nation bill would prohibit state, local officers from “moonlighting” as deportation agents
Los Angeles, CA – City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez joined dozens of Los Angeles immigrant community leaders to rally this morning in support of AB 1537, the “No Side Jobs for ICE Act.” The legislation, authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, sponsored by the ICE out of California Coalition, and supported by a broad alliance of immigrant, civil rights, and labor organizations, is currently on the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has until September 30 to take action on the bill. A recording of the rally is available here, and additional videos and photos are available here and here.
AB 1537 would ensure police, sheriffs, and certain other law enforcement officers in the state cannot take on secondary employment in any job that directly involves “engaging in arresting, detaining, transporting, or deporting” people under federal or out-of-state immigration laws. This prohibition applies whether the “side job” is with ICE, a private corporation, or with a law enforcement agency in another state that has enacted anti-immigration legislation.
Councilmember Soto-Martinez stated: “If you’re a public servant, you should be serving the public—not helping ICE tear families apart. I’m proud to support the No Side Jobs for ICE Act, and I urge Governor Newsom to sign it.”
Legal experts at the UCLA Law School’s Miñana Family Center for Immigration Law and Policy have affirmed “the bill is a constitutionally sound exercise of the state’s authority.” Amendments to the bill clarify that its provisions do not apply to service in the U.S. armed forces; law enforcement officers can continue to participate in the Coast Guard Reserve.
Jose Madera, Director, Pasadena Community Job Center and a leader with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, also voiced his strong support for the bill. Describing his own arrest by local police while observing ICE activity on the one-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire, he stated: “And I don’t know if this officer is working in Pasadena in the day, and at night, working with ICE. That’s the uncertainty that we have. And that’s why we’re urging Gov Newsom to stand with day laborers, to stand with construction workers, to stand with delivery workers, to stand with students, with parents, to stand with our neighbors, and sign AB 1537.”
AB 1537 comes in the wake of the Trump administration intensifying mass deportations with $240 billion in federal funding. ICE has launched advertising campaigns in an attempt to recruit local police, including in California media markets. The City of Los Angeles has already enacted a policy similar to AB 1537.
Shiu-Ming Cheer, Deputy Director of Immigrant & Racial Justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, commented: “Governor Newsom has a clear opportunity to close a dangerous loophole that lets California law enforcement take side jobs as deportation agents. No officer who takes an oath to protect Californians should be allowed to turn around and help ICE terrorize those same communities. As ICE ramps up efforts to recruit local police and sheriffs to carry out mass deportations, Governor Newsom must sign this bill without delay.”
Endorsers of the bill include the cities of Los Angeles, Culver City, Oakland, and Berkeley; Monterey County, the County Boards of Supervisors of Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco, Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, CFT – A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals, the California Faculty Association, the California Democratic Party, the Working Families Party, and dozens of immigrant and civil rights organizations.
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