Pressure grows to unmask ICE

The push to unmask ICE agents is catching fire as backlash grows to President Donald Trump s plan of mass deportation It comes across as kidnappings At specific point where do we end up with vigilantes Or where does this lead to a vigilante-type system with immigration or vigilante posses or at what point do they end up hiring mercenary-type paramilitary We ve talked for years about making sure police are that there s full transparency New York state Sen Patricia Fahy described Salon They re not even identifying themselves or producing the appropriate warrants that are mandated Fahy is sponsoring the MELT Act a bill that would require ICE agents operating in New York to unmask and identify themselves She mentioned the bill is about holding ICE to the same standards as other law enforcement Related ICE s billion windfall Trump s mass deportation force set to receive military-level funding Fahy explained that allowing ICE to continue to operate as it has been also allows criminals to exploit people s fear of ICE We are seeing incidents several pretty horrific ones of impersonating officers he announced and we ve already had issues with paramilitary organizations in particular areas and vigilantism and I worry that it is going to fuel that For example a Minnesota man disguised as law enforcement assassinated former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in June Alleged ICE impersonators also conducted a roadside armed robbery in Delaware In North Carolina another man was arrested and accused of posing as ICE and sexually assaulting a woman threatening to deport her if she did not comply The New York bill is modeled after similar efforts in California When I saw Senator Scott Weiner introduce his bill SB in California I knew this was the model I think that states must step up to defend their residents from unmarked masked agents and vigilantes New York Assemblymember Tony Simone notified Salon I would not be surprised if we see similar provision introduced very soon in places like Connecticut New Hampshire and all over the country he added citing conversations with lawmakers in those states Since the early days of Trump s second term masked federal agents have been abducting and detaining people across the United States including American citizens A large number of of those picked up in immigration enforcement sweeps have been disappeared to countries like El Salvador or South Sudan a few have not been heard from since and others have released being tortured As ICE agents have swept across the country congressional Republicans and members of the Trump administration have expressed concern over efforts to ensure that these agents are operating within the confines of the law and can be held accountable for their actions Secretary of Homeland Precaution Kristi Noem just last week complained on Fox News Sunday about a ruling from a federal judge that prevented agents from targeting people based on their race and required the department to grant detainees access to legal counsel We ve seen this across the country over and over and over again where judges are getting political It s not their job Noem revealed We need your help to stay independent Subscribe this day to assistance Salon s progressive journalism State lawmakers are not however the only ones pushing to force ICE to unmask A group of attorneys general has also signed on to the project sending a letter to Congress calling for regulation that would prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks that conceal their identity and require them to show their identification and agency-identifying insignia The images of masked armed men and women dressed in plainclothes and traveling in unmarked vehicles snatching people from streets homes Workplaces and courthouses has become common in latest weeks and are now emblazoned in the community consciousness the attorneys general wrote We have watched these detentions with alarm as the imagery evokes comparisons to repressive tactics that have no place in a free country Even as state lawmakers have pushed to unmask ICE specific Democrats have worried that it might overstep state lawmakers authority California Gov Gavin Newsom questioned whether the state had the power to regulate the behavior of ICE agents We have a bill we re looking at the constitutionality of it Newsom declared in an interview with the Tennessee Holler It appears we don t have the legal authority for federal agents but we do for other law enforcement executives There s specific amendments being made in the bill and our legal association s looking at it Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Syllabus In light of questions concerning whether states can require ICE agents to unmask Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that would prevent agents from concealing their identity while conducting immigration enforcement raids The bill like the state-level bills includes particular exceptions for instances when officers might use a gas mask or are engaged in non-public operations Members of the residents often have no way to confirm whether they are interacting with legitimate executive executives Sen Alex Padilla D-Calif explained in a message This lack of transparency endangers population safety by causing confusion fear and mistrust especially in communities already subjected to heightened immigration scrutiny It also increases risks for law enforcement personnel by creating uncertainty in high-stress situations particularly when individuals cannot distinguish real officers from impersonators In a comment to Salon attributed to a senior official the Department of Homeland Guard dismissed the legislative efforts to unmask ICE as repulsive messaging bills that stoke dangerous anti-ICE rhetoric for cheap political points and fundraising emails The official accused Democrats of trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxed and targeted Read more about ICE Cried every night ICE detains child with leukemia Trump hands over Medicaid records to ICE Hands off Sen Padilla dragged from Noem news conference and handcuffed The post Pressure grows to unmask ICE appeared first on Salon com