California governor compared ICE to 'secret police' and urged people to 'push back'

Misleading

Facts are technically correct but framed in a way that likely leads to a wrong impression. Learn more in Methodology.

Interesting: 0/0 • Support: 0/0Log in to vote

other

Confirm that Governor Gavin Newsom made the cited remarks and identify the source/timestamp of each quoted phrase.

Source summary
The White House published an article on January 9, 2026, commemorating National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day and listing 57 instances in which Democratic federal, state, and local officials criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The piece quotes and links to public statements by governors, senators, representatives, and mayors that describe ICE using terms like “terrorizing,” “Gestapo,” or “rogue,” and alleges those statements have incited hostility toward law enforcement. The article frames the list as evidence of a broader pattern by the political left and includes source links for each cited statement.
Latest fact check

Gavin Newsom signed California’s “No Secret Police Act,” a law explicitly aimed at stopping masked ICE raids, and supporters including the bill’s author described ICE’s masked tactics as “secret police” behavior. In his public remarks at the signing, however, Newsom did not directly label ICE as “secret police”; instead he said the masked detentions were “a sign of growing authoritarianism” and compared them to “a dystopian sci‑fi movie,” while the ‘secret police’ language appears in the bill’s title and in allies’ statements, not as a direct quote from him. He did clearly urge people to “stand up and push back” against these raids. Because the statement attributes a specific “secret police” label and quotation to Newsom that the available transcripts do not show him personally using, but accurately reflects his calling the tactics authoritarian and urging people to push back, the claim is partially accurate but framed in a way that overstates his exact words.

Verdict: Misleading, because it conflates the law’s branding and supporters’ “secret police” rhetoric with a direct Newsom quote, even though he did describe the tactics as authoritarian and told people to push back.

Timeline

  1. Update · Jan 10, 2026, 02:26 AMMisleading
    Gavin Newsom signed California’s “No Secret Police Act,” a law explicitly aimed at stopping masked ICE raids, and supporters including the bill’s author described ICE’s masked tactics as “secret police” behavior. In his public remarks at the signing, however, Newsom did not directly label ICE as “secret police”; instead he said the masked detentions were “a sign of growing authoritarianism” and compared them to “a dystopian sci‑fi movie,” while the ‘secret police’ language appears in the bill’s title and in allies’ statements, not as a direct quote from him. He did clearly urge people to “stand up and push back” against these raids. Because the statement attributes a specific “secret police” label and quotation to Newsom that the available transcripts do not show him personally using, but accurately reflects his calling the tactics authoritarian and urging people to push back, the claim is partially accurate but framed in a way that overstates his exact words. Verdict: Misleading, because it conflates the law’s branding and supporters’ “secret police” rhetoric with a direct Newsom quote, even though he did describe the tactics as authoritarian and told people to push back.
  2. Original article · Jan 09, 2026

Comments

Only logged-in users can comment.
Loading…