Nick Shirley sues California over law shielding information of immigration support workers

Nick Shirley, an online investigator with millions of followers across YouTube, X, and Instagram, sued California over a new law that extends confidential-address protections to immigration support service providers, a group that previously sat alongside domestic violence and stalking victims in the state's Safe at Home program.

Shirley says the law, which supporters nicknamed the Stop Nick Shirley Act, will let anyone he investigates send a written demand and shut down his reporting under threat of civil liability. He points to his December reporting on alleged Somali-run daycare fraud in Minnesota as the kind of work now at risk, and says he has already stopped investigating in California because of it.

The bill's sponsor, Assemblymember Mia Bonta, framed it as protecting confidentiality for people delivering legal, social, and humanitarian services. The law does not take effect until October 2027, but Shirley argues the injury to his speech is happening now.

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