Following a surge in arrests by armed, masked federal immigration brokers in unmarked vehicles, some California Democrats are backing a brand new invoice in Congress that may bar officers from masking their faces whereas conducting raids.
The No Masks for ICE Act, launched by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-New York) and co-sponsored by greater than a dozen Democrats, would make it unlawful for federal brokers to cowl their faces whereas conducting immigration enforcement until the masks have been required for his or her security or well being.
The invoice would additionally require brokers to obviously show their title and company affiliation on their garments throughout arrests and enforcement operations.
Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Burbank), who’s co-sponsoring the invoice, stated Tuesday that the laws would create the identical degree of accountability for federal brokers as for uniformed police in California, who’ve been required by regulation for greater than three many years to have their title or badge quantity seen.
“When brokers are masked and nameless, you can’t have accountability,” Friedman stated. “That’s not how democracy works. That’s not how our nation works.”
The invoice would direct the Division of Homeland Safety, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to arrange self-discipline procedures for officers who didn’t comply and report yearly on these numbers to Congress.
Homeland Safety official Tricia McLaughlin stated in a press release that immigration brokers “clearly establish themselves as regulation enforcement” however put on masks to guard themselves from assaults by gangs, “felony rings, murderers, and rapists.”
McLaughlin stated “demonization of our courageous regulation enforcement” has led to a rise in assaults. Fox Information stated Tuesday that there have been 10 assaults reported in opposition to brokers from the tip of January to the tip of June of 2024, in comparison with 79 throughout the identical interval this 12 months, a year-over-year improve of 690%.
The masks invoice has no Republican co-sponsors, which means its probabilities of getting a listening to within the GOP-controlled Home are slim.
“I’d assume that there’s Republicans on the market who’re most likely listening to the identical factor that I’m listening to from my constituents: ‘I don’t like the concept of individuals leaping out of a truck, carrying very massive weapons with masks over their faces, and I do not know who they’re,’” Friedman stated.
Friedman stated she hoped that Republicans involved about governmental overreach and the so-called “deep state” — the concept that there’s a secretive, coordinated community inside the federal government — would assist the invoice too.
The proposal comes after weeks of immigration raids in Southern California carried out by masked federal brokers wearing road garments or camouflage fatigues, driving unmarked automobiles and never displaying their names, badge numbers or company affiliations. Social media websites have been flooded with movies of brokers violently detaining individuals, together with dragging a taco stand vendor by her arm and tossing smoke bombs right into a crowd of onlookers.
The raids have coincided with an improve in individuals impersonating federal immigration brokers. Final week, police stated they arrested a Huntington Park man driving a Dodge Durango SUV outfitted with red-and-blue lights and posing as a Border Patrol agent.
In Raleigh, N.C., a 37-year-old man was charged with rape, kidnapping and impersonating a regulation enforcement officer after police stated he broke right into a Motel 6, informed a girl that he was an immigration officer and that he would have her deported if she didn’t have intercourse with him.
And in Houston, police arrested a person who they are saying blocked one other driver’s automotive, pretended to be an ICE agent, carried out a pretend visitors cease and stole the person’s identification and cash.
Burbank Mayor Nikki Perez stated Tuesday that metropolis officers have obtained questions from residents like, “How can I do know if the masked man detaining me is ICE or a kidnapper? And who can defend me if a person with a gun refuses to establish himself?”
These points got here to a “boiling level” final weekend, Perez stated, when a person confronted a girl on the Mystic Museum in Burbank, requested to see her paperwork and tried to “act as a federal immigration agent.” Workers and patrons stepped in to assist, Perez stated, however the incident left behind a “newfound sense of concern, an uncertainty.”
“Why is it that we maintain our native regulation enforcement, who put their lives on the road day-after-day, to a a lot greater normal than federal immigration officers?” Perez stated.
The invoice within the Home follows the same invoice launched in Sacramento final month by state Sen. Scott Wiener that may bar immigration brokers from carrying masks, though it’s unclear whether or not states can legally dictate the conduct or uniforms of federal brokers.
