California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a controversial bill expanding privacy protections for workers who provide immigration-related services, a measure critics have dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.”
Assembly Bill 2624, authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, expands the state’s Safe at Home program to qualifying employees and volunteers working with organizations that provide services to immigrants. The program allows eligible participants to keep their residential addresses out of public records by using a designated substitute address.
The law is scheduled to take effect October 1, 2027.
Bonta and other supporters of the legislation have argued that the additional protections are needed because immigration service workers have faced threats and harassment.
“Our immigrant service providers are living in fear because of extremists looking to demonize the work that they do and the populations they serve,” Bonta said Saturday. “That is an intolerable consequence of the anti-immigrant rhetoric that exists right now.”
But the reality is, the law will strike a blow against independent journalists exposing fraud.
The bill has become embroiled in a broader dispute over free speech and the ability of independent journalists to investigate organizations that receive public money or provide immigration services.
Critics have argued that the new protections could make it more difficult to identify and investigate workers at organizations facing allegations of fraud or other misconduct. The legislation became particularly controversial because of its perceived connection to independent journalist and YouTuber Nick Shirley.
Shirley rose to prominence by producing videos investigating organizations he believes may be involved in fraudulent activity. His reporting on Minnesota nonprofits attracted widespread attention, and he later traveled to California to investigate organizations and businesses in the San Diego area.
Opponents began referring to AB 2624 as the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” pointing out that the legislation could hinder the kind of on-the-ground investigative reporting Shirley has made a central part of his work. The nickname is not the bill’s official title.
Shirley has rejected the stated justification for the legislation and argued that his reporting played a role in prompting lawmakers to pursue the measure. He spoke out today, posting to X:
“California has officially signed the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ (AB 2624) into law. This bill was created only after I exposed widespread fraud in immigrant communities across America, specifically in California’s Medicaid, nonprofits and other welfare programs funded by our tax dollars.
“These politicians need the fraud to continue and they sadly use immigrants to do so often. They fund nonprofits and NGOs with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year for immigration services, including free healthcare and have now made ‘immigration support service providers’ essentially a protected class in California.
“For example, if I film a hospice or a ‘learing center’ with no patients receiving millions through Medicaid and the owner gives me a paper saying I cannot publish the video, I cannot publish it. If I publish it to expose them and they claim it caused them “fear” or a third party threatens them, I face a minimum $4,000 civil fine plus the legal fees of the individual or group suing me.
“This bill was created by the Attorney General’s wife and co-sponsored by CHIRLA, a nonprofit that has received over $80,000,000 in taxpayer dollars for ‘immigrant support services.’ Do you understand how this works yet? When the fraud is exposed, they create new laws to protect the fraudsters and penalize those who expose it.
“By signing this bill, the Governor and California politicians expose themselves as the corrupt politicians they are. This is not the end, the fight has just begun. More to come soon, this is far from over.”
