Newsom signs 'Stop Nick Shirley Act,' protecting immigration nonprofits and fueling controversy over investigative journalism

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the controversial Assembly Bill 2624 on Saturday, dubbed by Republicans as the "Stop Nick Shirley Act." The law, which will take effect on Oct. 1, 2027, expands the state's Safe at Home program to include employees of nonprofit organizations that assist people with immigration proceedings.

Nick Shirley, an independent journalist, has published videos in which he follows immigration workers and exposes fraud in California and Minnesota. He claims the law was enacted after he exposed "widespread fraud" in immigrant communities in both states.

The law already covered survivors of domestic violence, victims of elder abuse, and staff at reproductive health and gender-affirming care clinics, providing them with alternate mailing addresses in the face of alleged threats. It now extends to those working in immigrant services.

"A bill designed to silence citizen journalists"

Democrat Mia Bonta, a member of the California State Assembly, introduced the bill in February, following several reports of an alleged increase in threats and harassment against immigration service providers.

Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio was the one who nicknamed the bill in an official statement published in mid-April, stating that the legislation "can only be described as the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’—a bill designed to silence citizen journalists exposing fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars." According to DeMaio, instead of investigating and punishing fraud in immigration programs, Democrats prefer to "intimidate citizen watchdog journalists" who expose it.

Even at the federal level, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) labeled it the "Protect Fraudsters Act."

Bonta rejects that interpretation and says that the bill does not confuse legitimate journalism with the doxxing that Safe at Home aims to curb. On Saturday, she insisted: "Right now, our immigrant service providers are living in fear because of extremists looking to demonize the work that they do and the populations they serve. That is an intolerable consequence of the anti-immigrant rhetoric that exists right now."

Shirley warns that AB 2624 protects fraud

Following the bill's passage by the California Assembly, Shirley stated on X: "This bill will criminalize investigative journalism involving the immigrant population." The journalist asserted that, had the bill been in effect, it "would have made it illegal to expose the Somali 'Learing' center if it were in California or the Armenian hospice fraud in LA if they claimed 'reasonable fear.'"

Shirley argued that the law specifically protects "immigration support services providers," a category that includes health care services and publicly funded nonprofit organizations. According to him, "it has been proven that millions, potentially billions, of dollars in fraud has taken place in 'immigrant support services.'"