Journalists have long been dubbed the fourth estate, as they are understood to serve as a means of "speaking truth to power." In other words, they serve the populace by exposing potential corruption among those in positions of power.

In short, journalists help hold government officials accountable by informing the public.

Of course, corrupt government officials would love nothing more than to prevent this kind of investigative journalism from prying into their sordid affairs. And after massive fraud schemes involving Medicaid and immigration were exposed in California by citizen journalist Nick Shirley, Democrat lawmakers responded by crafting a law to punish the messenger, not the fraudsters.

Dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2624 into law over the weekend. The law shields organizations like the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) from having negative information, such as video recordings and interviews, about them published without their consent.

As justification for this blatant infringement of First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, the law is presented as a means of protecting these nonprofit groups from threats or harassment.

Indeed, CHIRLA, which helped write the legislation, is facing allegations of taxpayer fraud, exposed by Shirley. CHIRLA Executive Director Angelica Salas thanked Newsom and the California Democrats for passing this blatantly un-American legislation, stating, “At a time when immigration service providers, advocates, and volunteers face growing harassment, intimidation, doxxing, and threats simply for helping immigrant families, California is sending a clear message: those who serve our communities should not have to choose between doing their jobs and protecting their personal safety.”

Newsom’s office followed the same dubious narrative, claiming, “All this bill does is protect immigration workers from doxxing and threats. That’s it.”

Wow, personal safety — from whom? Federal law enforcement?

Remember, this is the same state that passed a federal law-enforcement mask-wearing ban, SB627, titled the “No Secret Police Act.” Where was the concern for protecting federal agents, who are dealing with criminals regularly, from harassment, doxxing, and threats?

Apparently, those upholding the nation’s immigration laws are deemed unworthy of protection from those with genuinely criminal and nefarious motives, while those promoting lawlessness, while receiving American taxpayer funding, are to be shielded from any scrutiny from concerned citizen journalists. Please.

Indeed, it appears the real motivation behind this legislation is California’s anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement agenda. CHIRLA happens to be one of the leading groups organizing activists and anti-ICE protests.

As Nick Shirley observed, “This bill was created only after I exposed widespread fraud in immigrant communities across America, specifically in California’s Medicaid, nonprofits and other welfare programs funded by our tax dollars. These politicians need the fraud to continue, and they sadly use immigrants to do so often. They fund nonprofits and NGOs with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year for immigration services, including free healthcare, and have now made ‘immigration support service providers’ essentially a protected class in California.”

Given just how blatant an abuse of the First Amendment this legislation is, it will likely be short-lived. Republican Assembly member Carl DeMaio has called on the Justice Department to step in, stating, “I ultimately believe that this has to go to court because clearly our politicians don’t give a damn about our First Amendment rights. But this is a bad pattern of behavior.”

State Senator Tony Strickland also argued, “It goes against everything we have here in America, but with the vague language, it’s shutting down speech and the freedom of the press. Every person and every taxpayer, every person should be able to ask questions and hold our government accountable.”

Interestingly, this legislation is so bad it may give a boost to Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton. “Californians have been ripped off for years with all the waste in our government — that’s why we pay the highest taxes in the country for the worst results,” he contended. “Instead of attacking people who are trying to expose the waste, we need a new governor who will find it, stop it and give the money back to taxpayers; that’s why I recently announced Operation Zero Waste as part of my plan to make Californians’ first $150,000 of income tax free.”

It’s thanks to California’s one-party rule that abusive laws like this have been allowed to be conceived, let alone codified. Hopefully, this abusive law will be repealed quickly.