Nick Shirley confronts Democratic California legislators after slamming immigration privacy bill

Conservative influencer and YouTuber Nick Shirley made a surprise appearance at the California Statehouse Thursday to confront Democratic lawmakers

Shirley was spotted standing outside the statehouse entrances, armed with a stack of papers and a videographer at his side.

At one point, in video obtained by The California Post, Shirley can be seen catching up to Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D) asking him about his thoughts on legistlation.

Another video shared with the Post shows Shirley interviewing an unidentified person. Another clip shows Shirley walking away from a capitol entrance as he’s being videoed.

The YouTuber has called out a proposed California bill on Monday that he argued would “criminalize investigative journalism,” including his viral efforts to expose fraud in the state.

“The enemy truly is within,” Shirley said. “When our politicians would rather protect fraudsters and illegal migrants, it’s time for us to stand up or face mass oppression from the traitors who ‘rule’ over us,” he said.

The legislation, which one Republican lawmaker dubbed the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” is aimed at boosting privacy for immigrant services providers. Authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D), the measure would outlaw sharing the photo or personal data of a provider on the internet for harassment or violent purposes.

Bonta said the purpose of the bill is to protect against incidents of doxing and death threats.

“Individuals who provide immigrant support services including legal aid, humanitarian relief, case management, and advocacy are facing targeted harassment. This is not hypothetical,” Bonta said at a April 7 hearing.

Shirley and Republican lawmakers, however, argue that some, especially from the left, could unfairly perceive videos from conservative influencers like Shirley’s as harassment and therefore put their reporting as a criminal liability.

Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio blasted the bill as an “unconstitutional” attempt to hide fraud from taxpayers.

“This insane bill would make it a crime for citizen journalists to post videos of left-wing groups engaging in fraud,” DeMaio said on X.

Violators would face up to a $10,000 fine or up to one year in county jail under the bill. If sharing the information results in bodily harm, the penalties would escalate to up to a $50,000 fine and felony imprisonment.

Bonta dismissed that characterization.

“If MAGA can’t tell the difference between journalism and doxing, that’s on them,” she said in a video posted Tuesday.

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