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The bill began as an effort to protect immigration aid workers, who said they were increasingly fearful of being doxxed and threatened as immigration raids swept through California last summer.<\/p>\n
Democratic state lawmakers presented it as a simple expansion of a longstanding program, Safe at Home, that had shielded the addresses of vulnerable residents in public records. Many states created such programs in the 1990s to protect survivors of domestic violence or stalking victims. Over the years, some states expanded the programs to include abortion-clinic workers or law enforcement officers.<\/p>\n
In California, such expansions never became free speech controversies. Last year, the state added health workers who provide gender-related treatment to the list, with little hubbub. <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until state lawmakers moved this year to include immigration aid providers that a firestorm ignited. And that largely occurred after a Republican opponent of the bill gave it a catchy nickname: \u201cThe Stop Nick Shirley Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Shirley, 24, has quickly become a hero in the MAGA movement as a YouTube influencer<\/a> whose viral videos claimed to expose fraud in Democratic-led states. His videos last year on Minnesota child care centers run by Somali immigrants caught the attention of President Trump, who was cracking down<\/a> on illegal immigration in the state. Soon after, Mr. Shirley made his way to California, where he recorded videos outside the homes of licensed child care providers, most of whom were immigrants, and the offices of hospice care providers.<\/p>\n Mr. Shirley has focused on fraud, and Republicans have mostly attacked the bill on free speech grounds, saying that it would prevent problems from being exposed. But immigrant aid groups have faced criticism from supporters of Mr. Trump because they provide everything from food to legal aid to the undocumented residents who have become especially vulnerable to deportation in the president\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n