Snapshot: Enough With the Masked Men

State and federal lawmakers are pushing back against terrorizing federal agents who hide behind masks

Who is the man behind the mask? From Chicago. (Photo by Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

Over the weekend, in sub-zero weather, masked men wearing ICE vests tried to arrest two workers at a home construction site near Minneapolis. These masked men did not identify themselves or show a warrant. Hours later, after protestors gathered to defend the freezing workers, the supposed federal agents gave up and left the scene. One of the workers—after suffering the freezing cold—was taken away in an ambulance.

While it’s inspiring to learn of this community’s solidarity, there are tragically thousands of instances in which such unidentified masked men succeed at taking people away in unmarked cars without due process, also leaving us to wonder how many were not actually federal agents. Fueled by the mad $170 billion appropriation for immigration enforcement, we have every reason to expect that this terrorizing, gestapo-style campaign will expand exponentially as Trump’s federal police state continues to widen its pursuit.

Yet lawmakers are fighting back. In two weeks, on Jan. 1, the “No Secret Police Act” (SB627) takes effect in California. The first of its kind, the new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September bans “local, federal and out-of-state law enforcement officers, or anyone acting on behalf of a federal officer, from wearing facial coverings that conceal their identity while in the performance of their duties.” (SWAT teams and approved undercover operations are among the exempt.) Officers who “willfully” continued to wear masks and commit “assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution” would face either criminal or civil penalties.

Here’s how the new law’s lead author, State Sen. Scott Wiener, vividly described the reason for the legislation:

ICE’s secret police tactics, under Trump and Stephen Miller, are raining fear and aggression down on California and requiring us to adapt in real time…No one wants masked officers roaming their communities and kidnapping people with impunity. As this authoritarian regime expands its reach into every aspect of daily life—including terrorizing people where they work, where they live, where they go to school, where they shop, where they seek health care—California will continue to stand for the rule of law and for basic freedoms.

Of course, the Trump regime had a different view, which is why they tried—unsuccessfully—to convince Gov. Newsom to veto the legislation. “Once again sanctuary politicians are trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “The men and women at CBP, ICE, and all of our federal law enforcement agencies put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.”

Ironically, while McLaughlin was perfectly fine with calling opponents of the ICE raids “terrorist sympathizers” and claim their focus is on arresting “violent criminal illegal aliens,” she complained that “Weiner’s rhetoric comparing them to ‘secret police’…is despicable.” Her department’s statement referred to these federal agents as “heroic law enforcement officers.”

Days ago Democrats in the New Jersey General Assembly also voted for a bill that would ban every law enforcement officer, including federal agents, from wearing masks while performing their official duties. A version of that bill must still be heard by the state senate.

Meanwhile, a similar bill is making its way through the New York state legislature—the “Mandating End of Lawless Tactics,” known as the MELT Act. “In states and cities across the country, unmarked ICE agents continue to spread fear and sow confusion,” New York State Sen. Patricia Fahy and Assemblymember Tony Simone said in a joint statement, adding, “Masked raids and unidentifiable agents intimidate communities, fracture trust, and push people away from cooperating with law enforcement even when they need help, denigrating community trust in law enforcement and our institutions.”

To not live in fear

At the federal level, California Sen. Alex Padilla and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker have introduced the VISIBLE Act to ban masks and require visible IDs by federal agents. In a letter to ICE, Padilla and 13 other Democrats condemned the use of masks, which “represents a clear attempt to compound that fear and chaos—and to avoid accountability.” They go on: “Storming courthouses, grabbing students off the street, raiding places of work, and sweeping through restaurants at prime dining hours are in and of themselves tactics clearly designed to engender fear and sow chaos in the population.”

The American Civil Liberties Union offers a succinct description of why citizens should reach out to their representatives to support it.

If people wearing ski masks and tactical gear with no visible identification swarmed your workplace to take your coworkers away in unmarked vehicles—would you be able to tell the difference between federal law enforcement and a kidnapping? What if they took your family member or friend – how could you find or contact them, or figure out what kind of lawyer to call, without knowing who those agents were?…We should not have to live in fear of masked, armed agents on our streets.

Every day that ICE agents feel unfettered by the Constitution and empowered to pursue their hostile campaign against immigrants and others is another day when reckless abuse takes the place of justice and the rule of law. I abhor the fact that it will take more than a year before a federal law unmasking these dangerous and lawless men can take effect, but it should be another reminder why Democrats need to retake the majority in Congress. May California’s example inspire more legislatures around the country to step up before its too late to prevent this hateful regime from turning our country into an irreparable police state.

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