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ICE photo in California
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is helping lead a coalition of 21 attorneys general urging Congress to pass legislation prohibiting federal immigration agents from wearing masks to conceal their identity and requiring them to show their identification and agency-identifying insignia.
"We write to urge you to consider and advance legislation that would generally probibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks that conceal their identity and require them to show their identification and agency-identifying insignia, the attorneys general wrote in a July 15 letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
"It is shocking that we have reached a point in America where such a common-sense set of measures must be enshrined into law."
Democratic senators last week introduced a bill to ban immigration officers from concealing their identities during immigration enforcement.
“Normalizing the practice of using masked agents who do not identify themselves is not just a shocking escalation of unscrupulous police tactics – it also presents a significant danger for residents and officers alike,” Nessel said in a statement. “It is only a matter of time before an officer is hurt resisting what appears to be a kidnapping, or before bad actors start simulating this behavior to apprehend whomever they want.”
The letter to Congress went on to say:
“We have watched these detentions with alarm, as the imagery evokes comparisons to repressive tactics that have no place in a free country. ICE officers’ now routine practice of carrying out arrests in public spaces through masked agents who do not identify themselves as law enforcement has the effect of terrorizing communities rather than protecting them.”
See Attorney General Dana Nessel's video on the matter.
