Gavin Newsom signs ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ expanding protections for immigrant service workers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: On Saturday, August 22, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2624, expanding the Safe at Home program. Now, employees at nonprofits that help immigrants with the immigration system get covered by this protection too. This happened just days after a staffer from the state Assembly interrupted an interview with journalist Nick Shirley outside the state Capitol in Sacramento.

Until now, Safe at Home gave substitute mailing addresses to people like domestic violence survivors, victims of elder abuse, and workers involved in reproductive and gender-affirming health care, people who sometimes face harassment because of their work. AB 2624 brings nonprofit staff serving immigrant communities into the fold. These new protections kick in on October 1, 2027. Critics have blasted the measure as a way to intimidate people “trying to shine light on bad behavior.”

What does the bill do and who backs it?

Democratic Assemblywoman Mia Bonta from Alameda introduced the bill back in February. She said she’s seen a jump in threats and harassment targeting groups that help immigrants.

In a statement Saturday, Bonta explained that these organizations are dealing with real fear, thanks to extremist rhetoric aimed at their work and the people they support.

“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.”

Republicans gave the measure the nickname of the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” coined by Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego. Shirley, an independent journalist and YouTuber, has made videos following immigrant workers and accusing them of fraud.

He has criticized AB 2624, saying it was created after he “exposed widespread fraud in immigrant communities” in California and Minnesota.

Sidewalk confrontation that caused the drama

The controversy intensified after Shirley traveled to San Diego following the viral success of videos he produced about Minnesota.

On Wednesday, Shirley was conducting a sidewalk interview outside the California State Capitol in Sacramento when Terry Schanz, chief of staff to Democratic Assemblywoman Tina McKinnor, allegedly barged into the encounter.

Schanz earns $17,319 a month, or $207,828 a year, in taxpayer-funded compensation.

He held up a printed flyer and asked: “Did you guys hear that Nick Shirley has a small p***s allegedly?”

This episode has brought a strange twist to the fight over AB 2624. Supporters keep calling the bill a way to stop harassment and doxxing.

Meanwhile, Schanz’s name has already come up in a 2025 wrongful-termination lawsuit that points to a tough workplace culture among Assembly leaders. Earlier this year, his office took heat for allegedly trying to alter news footage about McKinnor.

Newsom's office has not issued additional public comment beyond the governor's signing of the bill. The law's effects on both nonprofit workers and independent journalists covering immigration issues in California are expected to become clearer as its 2027 implementation date approaches.