Assemblymember Avila Farias Introduces Legislation to Hold ICE Accountable

SACRAMENTO — Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias (D-Martinez) has introduced legislation to disqualify employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from becoming peace officers or teachers in California to protect California’s communities, classrooms, and public institutions by ensuring that individuals entrusted with authority uphold constitutional rights and the rule of law.

AB 1627, the Misconduct Ends Law-Enforcement Trust Act of 2026 (MELT ICE Act), would disqualify individuals previously employed by ICE, as well as two additional agencies with documented patterns of abuse during relevant periods from serving as peace officers or public-school educators in California.

Beginning in 2025, ICE agents have terrorized California residents, United States citizens and noncitizens alike, through untargeted arrests and brutality based on nothing more than a person’s racial appearance, language spoken, their employment, or First Amendment-protected speech.

ICE operations across California were marked by widespread reports of excessive force, intimidation, and unlawful arrests, including the detention of individuals without charges or due process. These practices undermined fundamental protections guaranteed by the Constitution and inflicted lasting harm on families and communities.

Over the past thirty-five years, state and local law enforcement agencies in California have made great strides in community relations, professionalism, and accountability, resulting in greater public trust. California sets a high standard for its peace officers and ICE agents’ brutal, immoral activity threatens to undermine what they have accomplished.

“California’s peace officers and teachers must be guardians of constitutional rights, not participants in their erosion,” said Assemblymember Avila Farias. “Public service requires integrity, restraint, and respect for due process. When those values are abandoned, public trust is broken, and communities are put at risk.”

In 2025 alone, thirty-two people died in ICE custody, the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades. These deaths, alongside documented civil-rights violations, highlight the urgent need for accountability and clear standards for public employment in California.

AB 1627 affirms California’s commitment to constitutional governance by drawing a clear line: individuals who have participated in systemic violations of civil liberties are unfit to hold positions of authority over the public or in classrooms where children learn civic values.

“This bill is about protecting the public and restoring trust,” Avila Farias added. “When Californians interact with a peace officer or a teacher, they deserve to know that person respects the Constitution, the dignity of every individual, and the limits of their power. Our nation is morally broken when a child wearing a knitted bunny hat is held hostage. Exploiting a parent’s worst fear by kidnapping their child is profoundly un-American.”

AB 1627 is expected to be heard in committee later this spring.

Assemblymember Avila Farias represents the 15th Assembly District‚ which includes the communities of Antioch‚ Bay Point‚ Brentwood‚ Briones‚ Byron‚ Clayton‚ Concord‚ Crockett‚ Discovery Bay‚ Lafayette‚ Livermore‚ Martinez‚ Orinda‚ Pacheco‚ Pittsburg‚ Pleasant Hill‚ Port Costa‚ San Ramon‚ and Walnut Creek.

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