California Democrats Advance ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ to Criminalize Investigative Journalism
California Democrats are trying to make investigating fraud illegal
By Katy Grimes, April 13, 2026 2:13 pm
California Democrats are trying to pass a bill to criminalize investigative journalists for violating “Privacy for immigration support services providers.”
That should say “illegal immigration.”
California Assemblyman Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) is slamming state Democrats for voting to advance a controversial new law, Assembly Bill 2624 by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Oakland), to silence citizen journalists and shield taxpayer-funded organizations from public scrutiny.
Assemblyman DeMaio had a contentious exchange with Assemblywoman Bonta, the bill’s author, in the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee when he tried to press Bonta on the double standard her bill would create – particularly as the California Legislature tries through legislation to ban the same protections from law enforcement officers.
As the Globe recently reported, California Democrats Want to Ban ICE Officers From Future State/Local Law Enforcement Jobs and Impose Selective Taxation. In response to the deaths of ICE protestors Renee Good and Alex Pretti, State Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-Los Angeles) said she is “mobilizing a coalition of experts and legislators to fight back against the egregious and murderous overreach of this federal administration,” and called Good’s and Pretti’s deaths at the hands of federal ICE agents “public executions.”
“Certain political groups will have more protections and privacy then law enforcement,” Assemblyman DeMaio said to Bonta.
Assemblywoman Bonta retorted that her bill protects people being harassed. doxed and subjected to violence, allowing them to have the ability to protect themselves.
“Shouldn’t law enforcement have that same right?” DeMaio asked.
Bonta said she was solely focused on the contents of her bill and whether people working in immigrant services will be protected under the law.
“Why are we treating sworn law enforcement officers differently than these agitators?” DeMaio asked Bonta. “They are doxed, harassed, and subjected to threats of violence.”
Bonta got testy and said her bill doesn’t have anything to do with law enforcement.
“Why do we have a double standard? Why do we not offer the same protections for the men and women who put oil the uniform every day who are sometimes subjected to the very gross you are trying to protect?” DeMaio asked.
Notably, the bill is sponsored by the Women’s Foundation of California, Solis Policy Institute and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, CHIRLA, an “immigrant services” NGO many say are behind anti-ICE riots.
California legislators are trying to make investigating fraud illegal https://t.co/tmWik0Z1iv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2026
The Assembly Judiciary Committee explains the bill in recent analysis:
“In the wake of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement campaigns, demand for immigration-related legal services and related resources has skyrocketed.
After just one year of Trump’s second term, organizations such as Immigrant Legal Defense and the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) reported a wave of new requests for assistance from students in both the University of California and California State University systems who are currently authorized to enroll with their status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). (Delilah Brumer and Mercy Sosa, Demand for immigration legal services spikes at California colleges (February 3, 2025) CalMatters available at: https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2025/02/dream-centers-legal- services/)
In the midst of the 2024 campaign, before the administration assumed power, organizations that provided shelter and resources to migrants faced vitriolic attacks from far-right conspiracy theorists. One New York Times report detailed how James O’Keefe, the right-wing figure who used to lead Project Veritas, began posting videos on X in March of 2024 claiming Catholic Charities, a faith-based organization that manages shelters for migrants in San Diego, was “an illegal holding site for women and children and speculating, without evidence, that they had been trafficked.” In the wake of those posts, Catholic Charities experienced a wave of online and in- person threats, as O’Keefe’s supporters began appearing at the shelters, searching for “smuggled” children. (Mirian Jordan, Faith-Based Groups That Assist Migrants Become targets of Extremists (June 2, 2024) New York Times available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/02/us/migrants-charities-shelters-threats.html?searchResultPosition=5.)
Acknowledging the increasing threats targeted at individuals and organizations that provide vital services to some of our state’s most vulnerable residents, this bill proposes to establish a new program for immigration support services providers that mirrors the existing Safe at Home Program currently enacted for domestic violence survivors and various health care providers.
According to Assemblywoman Bonta, the bill’s author:
“AB 2624 strengthens protections for individuals working in immigrant service roles, including nonprofit staff, volunteers, and legal services providers, who may face risks such as doxxing, harassment, or threats due to the nature of their work. By extending Safe at Home Program protections, the bill allows eligible participants to keep their personal information confidential in public records, helping reduce exposure to harm while supporting the continued delivery of legal, social, and humanitarian services. This proposal promotes safety, privacy, and continuity of essential services, reinforcing public confidence and ensuring that those serving communities across California can carry out their responsibilities effectively and securely.”
DeMaio calls AB 2624 the “Stop Nick Shirley Act” for the chilling effect it will have on free speech and independent investigative journalism.
AB 2624 comes as independent journalists like Nick Shirley, James O’Keefe, and others have used viral videos to expose fraud and abuse in government-funded programs using on-the-ground footage and firsthand documentation.
AB 2624 claims to be about protecting immigrant organizations from “threats of violence,” when in fact the legislation would apply to any left-wing group that claims to provide any services to legal or illegal immigrants. For example, under AB 2624 entities like the Somali “Learing” Daycare centers would all be covered if they operated inside California, De Maio says.
During a recent Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee hearing, DeMaio directly confronted the bill’s author, Mia Bonta, over language that would allow individuals affiliated with certain organizations to demand the removal of video recordings — even if taken in public — and even impose costly financial penalties against those who publish the videos online.
DeMaio warned the bill would be used to block investigative reporting and intimidate journalists, watchdog groups, and members of the public documenting wrongdoing.
Rather than addressing DeMiao’s concerns, Committee Chairman Josh Lowenthal (D-Long beach) chastised Assemblyman DeMaio for questioning the double standard.
Here is Assemblyman Carl DeMaio’s Full Statement on AB 2624:
“California Democrats are trying to intimidate citizen watchdog journalists and protect waste and fraud happening in far-Left-wing NGOs. AB 2624 can only be described as the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ — a bill designed to silence citizen journalists exposing fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
Instead of fixing the fraud problems being uncovered, Sacramento politicians are trying to shut down the people exposing them.
AB 2624 would allow activists and taxpayer-funded organizations to demand the removal of video evidence — even if it captures misconduct in plain view — and threatens journalists with massive financial penalties.
That’s not about public safety — it’s about protecting powerful interests.
If this bill becomes law, the message is clear to every journalist in California: expose corruption and you will be punished. AB 2624 is an unconstitutional direct attack on transparency and the First Amendment – and it needs to be defeated.”
California is trying to pass a bill that would criminalize investigative journalism with misdemeanors, $10,000 fines, imprisonment, and content takedown.
The proposed bill is titled AB 2624 and was made after I exposed mass fraud by immigrant groups in America.
Under AB 2624,… pic.twitter.com/4p0SjO7hOZ
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) April 13, 2026
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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Mia Bonta and colleagues only have something to hide!
They want to criminalize independent journalists for fear of being exposed and losing special campaign “donor” dry up.
This reeks of fascism btw.
The independent investigative journalist are needed more than ever because the legacy media have abdicated their responsibility, to seek truth.
It is actually even worse than people are saying when you read the bill. This would not only make investigating much harder it will make using fake address’ to set up body count benefit scams legal. Scammers claiming to have 12 people living in a mailbox can now legally deny anyone looking for the actual location of said persons. This will turn 12 person scams into 120 person scams overnight.
At this point is there any direction for California other than a complete societal collapse? The majority of people will never be snapped out of their ignorant stupor until their lives are majorly disrupted by something like no more electricity / pension payments stop / gas is $20 a gallon / house next door gets converted to low income apartments / they’re robbed at gunpoint / savings are taken, etc etc. And the democrats will never stop taking until they’ve absolutely destroyed everything!
Mia Bonta has just admitted to all Californians that the state’s Democrats are complicit in the ongoing corruption and fraud. And those Californians who vote (voted) for these classless and reprehensible Democrat reprobates like Swalwell (and Mia Bonta) are also complicit in the insanity that is governing California.
Thanks, ‘No Kings” clowns. For nothing
Democrat Assemblywoman Mia Bonta has ZERO ethics and morals just like her husband Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta. No doubt they’ve both benefited handsomely from taxpayer-funded organizations connected to the Democrat party? Not only financially, but also at election time? She and the rest of the criminal Democrat thug mafia that controls the state will do everything they can to prevent public scrutiny of Democrat connected non-profits and NGOs funded by taxpayers? Their political futures depend on it because who in their right mind would vote for shady Democrat lawyers like Mia Bonta and Rob Bonta?
Who is Mia Bonta? She was born in Puerto Rican but grew up in the Bronx. She attended Yale University, where she met Rob Bonta as a freshman. Mia Bonta earned a Master of Education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education before attending Yale Law School with Rob Bonta who was born in the Philippines. Beware of carpetbagging Yale trained lawyers from back east?
Mia Bonta has faced multiple election-related controversies, primarily centered on conflict of interest allegations and campaign funding disputes. During her 2021 Special Election campaign to fill the seat vacated by her husband, Rob Bonta, after his appointment as Attorney General by Gavin Newsom, Mia Bonta received large donations from gambling interests intended to curry favor with Rob Bonta and she also accepted large donations from developers and other special interest groups.
Following her installation as Assemblywoman, Mia Bonta faced intense scrutiny in February 2023 when she was appointed chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 5, which oversees the budget of her husband’s agency, the Department of Justice. Initially, Mia Bonta refused to recuse herself from the budget subcommittee, with KCRA reporter Ashley Zavala reporting that Bonta wagged her finger at the reporter and called the questioning of her position “sexist and racist.” Although Mia Bonta initially claimed there was no legal or ethical conflict, she eventually decided to recuse herself from budget hearings involving the Department of Justice after days of public pressure and investigation.
In 2024 Katy Grimes reported in California Globe that Mia Bonta had made a $1.25 million contribution to the Huey Newton Foundation and Oakland Black Panther Museum. Where did Mia Bonta come up with that kind of money to donate when she’s an Assemblywoman with a base salary of $132,703 per year and receives a per diem of $236 per day? Were campaign funds used? Katy Grimes pointed out that the Federal Elections Commission has outlined that campaign funds may only be used for travel, meals, and on special occasions to purchase gifts or make donations of nominal value to persons other than the members of the candidate’s family. Personal use expenses must reimburse the committee within thirty days for the entire amount associated with the personal activities. Did Mia Bonta violate campaign funding laws, and if so, why didn’t the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) investigate as the primary agency responsible for enforcing California’s campaign finance laws? Probably because the five commissioners on the FPPC are all Democrats who were appointed by Democrats? Gavin Newsom appointed Adam E. Silver and E. Dotson Wilson, Democrat Secretary of State Shirley Weber appointed Abby Wood, Democrat Controller Betty Yee appointed Catharine Baker, and Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta appointed Elsa Ortiz.
Hmmm, foxes guarding the hen house?
(https://californiaglobe.com/fr/assemblywoman-mia-bonta-donates-1-25-million-to-black-panther-museum/)
Hey TJ, Mia and her crook husband (the AG) are the problemo. Clean house in Sacramento now, before it gets worse.
^^^ So in other words, not only does Rob Bonta imitate Newsom’s hair style, he also imitates him by having his wife grift for him, as well???
Got it – these are the very swamp-monsters that we need REMOVED from California governance…
Time to take out the trash Democrats starting this June, and continuing to November… time to say “ENOUGH CORRUPTION, DEMOCRATS!” and vote Republican or for Elaine Culotti as No Party Preference….
STOP voting Democrat – they are literally ROBBING US BLIND and enabling FRAUD in almost every aspect of public life…contributing to inflation, due to the WASTE of our tax dollars…
Communist countries put journalists in jail. Is there any doubt now that California is a Communist state?
Bonta stinks of corruption along with most elected democrats in the state. They are shredding the 1st Amendment of the Constitution regarding freedom of the press. Remember Kamala and Becerra went after Daleiden over the investigative journalism exposing planned parenthood selling baby body parts. Democrats are passing a bill to criminalize journalists for exposing fraud. Who are they working for? Democrats are the authoritarians and tyrants. This bill is disgusting, a disgrace and an insult. Democrats are treating the peopke they work for (us) like serfs, legislating away our freedoms and our money without our consent. Vote democrats out of office. What have we got to lose?
Just. Freaking. Amazing. And not in a good way. No way in a good way.
Is this the start of the CA democrat implosion?? This is completely unconstitutional and will truly make them look like the communist they have become.
Eventually, yes. But these freaks have done this before and it does seem to work to chill speech —- which is their goal —- until ruled unconstitutional. Absolutely positively DISGUSTING.
Maybe Mia needs to read the First Amendment and why the founders wrote it.
I know her husband uses the second amendment as a dinner napkin and then tosses it in the trash.
Of course, he has an armed security team for him and his family , I am sure .
Am I the only one finding the irony in all of this?
Nick Shirley exposes potential fraud in the hundreds millions of dollars. Rob Bonta starts an “investigation” touting his greatness in protecting the citizens of California and his wife goes after the guy that exposes it in the first place…
I would think this law would be determined to be unconstitutional and tossed at the federal court level.
Yea, how bad does this have to get before the Republicans leaders grow spines and do something-anything to crack down on all this and put these Treasonous-Criminal Politicians IN Prison where they belong for a very long time!
I didn’t get s chance to read the whole article but my very first thought when I read the headline was…typical, just freaking typical.