Nick Shirley Sues California for Squelching Freedom of the Press

by Jeff Johnston | September 4, 2026 | Free Speech

Investigative journalist Nick Shirley, whose reporting exposed government waste, fraud and harmful immigration policies, filed a lawsuit challenging a California law that criminalizes publishing images of or personal information about immigration support services providers.

In a press release from America First Legal, which filed the complaint, Shirley questioned why the state was trying to impede investigations into California’s illegal immigration crisis and immigrant-related fraud:

Why create new laws that restrict the freedom of speech if you have nothing to hide? Now more than ever, the people deserve more transparency, not less. Freedom of speech is essential for a high-trust society.

America First Legal, working with John W. Howard of JW Howard Attorneys, explained the lawsuit in a press release:

The lawsuit challenges California Assembly Bill 2624, commonly known as the “Stop Nick Shirley Act” and recently signed into law, alleging it unlawfully targets journalists and citizens who investigate immigration-related organizations, in violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution.

Shirley hit the spotlight in December 2025 when he posted a video alleging fraud at several Somali-run daycare centers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The video showed empty daycare and learning centers where the owners were receiving government funds.

Most famously, Shirley focused attention on the Quality Learing Center [sic], which became the object of widespread ridicule. The video, “I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal” has more than 4.2 million views on YouTube, where Shirley has almost two million subscribers. His YouTube videos have almost 370 million views.

After Shirley’s investigation into daycare and learning centers in the Twin Cities, CNN reported the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation “ramped up their presence in the state, and federal funding for child care in the entire state was frozen.”

Government officials and legacy media outlets have condemned Shirley’s journalism, complained about exaggerated findings and questioned his accuracy. But he pointed to the fraud convictions that followed the release of his video and challenged reporters to go to the daycare and learning centers themselves.

He makes a good point: Why aren’t mainstream reporters investigating fraud?

Shirley then shifted his focus to California. America First Legal detailed the timeline, noting that Shirley posted that he arrived in California on January 31 and released a video alleging voter fraud February 16.

Four days later, Assemblymember Mia Bonta introduced AB 2624, labeling it “Privacy for immigration support services providers.”

Because of the timing, however, and because he was investigating California’s migrant crisis, advocates for free speech called it the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.”

The bill was fast-tracked through the California Legislature and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on August 26.

Bonta released a statement after the signing, saying the legislation “adds immigration support services providers to the state’s Safe at Home program, protecting these workers from targeted harassment and doxxing.”

The Safe at Home confidentiality program, passed in 1998, was originally designed to protect victims of domestic violence. It was later amended to include abortion providers and those socially or medically “transitioning” individuals with sexual identity confusion, using body-damaging puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries.

America First Legal’s lawsuit challenges amending the program to include immigration investigations. It’s press release explains some of the complaint’s allegations:

The statute is a content-based restriction on speech. Liability turns on whether the publication concerns a designated immigration support services provider or persons associated with such a provider.
The statute discriminates on the basis of viewpoint. It especially protects information concerning “immigration support services,” while imposing no comparable restriction on speech concerning organizations or individuals whose advocacy favors stronger immigration enforcement.
The statute is unconstitutionally overbroad and vague. Its open-ended definitions cover a substantial amount of protected journalism, political commentary, watchdog reporting and whistleblowing, and fail to give speakers fair notice of what is prohibited.

America First Legal President Gene Hamilton said of the case:

Nick Shirley is an American patriot. He has been exposing fraud that too many people have tolerated or facilitated for decades. California was so threatened by that work that the Attorney General’s own wife introduced a bill to silence Mr. Shirley, in violation of the First Amendment. Governor Gavin Newsom gladly signed it. This will not stand. America First Legal is proud to stand with Nick.

The case is Shirley v. Bonta.

Related articles and resources:

Border Crackdown Discourages ‘Fraudulent Families,’ Child Trafficking

CBS News Admits They Lost the Plot. Can They Fix Themselves?

Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Protects Children

From Nick Shirley:

I Investigated The California Migrant Crisis

I Investigated California’s Suspected Voter Fraud

I Investigated Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal

Photo Credit: Nick Shirley via YouTube