DHS denounces ‘despicable' California proposal to mandate officers show their faces
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) condemned the California proposal to ban law enforcement officers from covering their faces when interacting with the public.
In a post on X on Monday, DHS's social media account took aim at California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D) — who announced the legislation — saying his 'rhetoric comparing ICE to 'secret police' is despicable' and contributes to the rise in attacks on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
'While ICE officers are being assaulted by rioters, a sanctuary politician is trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxed and targeted by known and suspected terrorist sympathizers,' DHS wrote in its post.
'Make no mistake, this type of rhetoric is contributing to the surge in assaults of ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE,' DHS added.
DHS said its law enforcement officers are seeing more than a 400 percent rise in assaults, as well as new websites launched for the purpose of revealing identifying information — or 'doxing' — ICE agents.
DHS pledged to 'prosecute those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law,' adding, 'The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.'
The DHS post responded directly to Wiener's announcement of new legislation, the No Secret Police Act (SB627), which he unveiled with fellow state Sen. Jesse Arreguin (D).
The law would ban local, state and federal law enforcement, with some exceptions, from covering their faces when interacting with the public and would require them to wear identifying information, Wiener said.
Wiener said the purpose is to reestablish trust between communities and law enforcement agents amid a rise in masked enforcement officers in protests in California and elsewhere.
'We're seeing the rise of secret police — masked, no identifying info, even wearing army fatigues — grabbing & disappearing people,' he wrote on X. 'It's antithetical to democracy & harms communities. The No Secret Police Act can help end the fear & chaos this behavior creates in communities.'
There has also been a rise in individuals impersonating ICE agents and other law enforcement officers, which critics argue is a byproduct of not requiring officers to identify themselves before taking enforcement action.
The Hill has reached out to Wiener's office for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Engadget
18 minutes ago
- Engadget
Donald Trump will delay a looming TikTok ban for a third time
President Donald Trump will, once again, give TikTok a temporary reprieve as it faces another deadline to sell itself or face a ban in the United States. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Tuesday that Trump will sign another executive order to extend the deadline. The latest extension — this time for 90 days — is now the third time Trump has punted on a looming TikTok ban since he took office in January . 'As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark," Leavitt said in a statement reported by CNN . "This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.' US officials are presumably still negotiating terms of a potential deal that would allow TikTok to remain operational in the United States, though there's been little news on that front since the last extension in April. A number of potential buyers are interested in acquiring TikTok's US business, but officials in China would need to sign off on any agreement. In April, several reports suggested that a deal would likely involve the company's existing US investors rolling over their stakes into a new entity. Those talks were derailed by Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports.
Politico
22 minutes ago
- Politico
Trump extends TikTok deadline again
President Donald Trump will extend the deadline for TikTok to divest its U.S. assets by another 90 days, the White House said Tuesday, marking the third time enforcement of the 2024 law has been punted. The popular short-form video app has been illegal for companies to support or host online since Jan. 19, but Trump has been granting it unilateral extensions since he took office, saying he has a deal in the works. 'As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Tuesday. 'This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.' A reported deal to sell off TikTok got caught in U.S.-China trade tensions earlier this year. Just as the White House was preparing to unveil the finalized TikTok agreement ahead of an April 5 deadline, Beijing called ByteDance — TikTok's China-based parent company — and ordered it to pause the deal after Washington imposed a slew of reciprocal tariffs on China, along with dozens of other countries, a person familiar with the matter said. In Congress, Republicans are increasingly frustrated by the repeated extensions, but are still granting Trump space to negotiate a deal. 'We voted that it should be banned, and I look forward to the day that they can't continue to propagate Chinese talking points,' said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday before the announcement. Few lawmakers have been willing to voice their frustrations publicly, wary of crossing the president, even as they're frustrated by a TikTok negotiation that shows little sign of movement. One exception is Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the head of the House select committee on China, who warned in a public op-ed in March that nothing short of complete divestment from Beijing would suffice.
Miami Herald
28 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
‘Nothing inhumane': Miami congressman tours detention center after Herald investigation
Rep. Carlos Gimenez became the first Republican federal lawmaker and the latest member of Florida's congressional delegation to visit South Florida facilities that house immigration detainees. On Tuesday, the representative toured the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami — a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility housing immigrants under the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — after the Miami Herald published an investigation into reports of harsh conditions, lack of access to legal counsel and use of force. He announced his plans for the visit last week in a C-Span interview. READ MORE: Rep. Giménez to visit ICE detention centers in Miami after Herald uncovers harsh conditions Standing in front of FDC Miami with printed notes from the Herald article in hand, Gimenez said he had not seen any 'deplorable' conditions, but confirmed an incident in April in which detention officers deployed force against a group of immigrant detainees. 'There's nothing going on in there that would make me as an American not proud to be an American, and ashamed of what's going on there,' he said. Gimenez said 311 ICE detainees are housed in four units designed for a total of 500 people. On other floors, the facility separately houses about 1,000 other men who are either awaiting trial or have already been sentenced. According to ICE data showing average daily populations, about half of the men in ICE custody at the incarceration facility have criminal records and half don't. The Miami Herald spoke with three employees, seven detainees – one of whom was at the facility for about four months – and numerous lawyers with clients who have been housed at FDC Miami. They described delays in legal access, broken air conditioning, elevators and toilets, long lockdowns and a use of force incident in April. READ MORE: 'Some cry all day.' ICE detainees face harsh conditions in Miami federal facility 'I've seen some inmates just sit there and cry,' one officer told the Herald during the investigation. 'Some cry all day. Grown men, just crying.' Gimenez did not speak to any detainees during his tour. But he said he witnessed them playing games, watching television, and eating meals. 'They knew who I was, and nobody said 'oh wow, this is really bad,'' he said. He toured several units, and saw showers, a cafeteria, and an outdoor recreation area. Detainees have access to emails and phones, he said. 'This is not the Ritz-Carlton. It's a detention center. But there's nothing inhumane that's going on,' said the Cuban-American lawmaker. He told reporters that an FDC employee he spoke with described a broken elevator and 'disrepair.' 'Send us back' According to Gimenez, FDC Miami officials said about 40 detainees began refusing orders, knocking down sprinkler systems and trying to rip out toilets in the incident that happened in April. 'They had to use force to subdue them,' he said, of the facility's officers. He said no detainees were taken to the hospital. In response to the incident, he said, officials changed 'some of their procedures.' In interviews and multiple lawsuits, detainees said that officers deployed crowd-control grenades and what appeared to be rubber pellets in a crowded room on April 15. Detainees had flooded the cell to protest a lack of food, water and medication. Six detainees who were present during the incident said that they had been waiting to be processed for hours, after they were transferred that day from nearby Krome North Service Processing Center, and grew desperate. They were hungry and thirsty and some of them needed daily medications to be administered on time. In one lawsuit signed by 24 detainees related to the incident, a man wrote that they were yelling for hours for 'basic needs' of food, water and medicine, and flooded the cell and grew 'combative.' Diego Rafael Medina Rodriguez, 26, said that he got hit by 'rubber bullets coming from the explosion of concussion grenades,' suffered pain in his wrists from being tightly handcuffed for hours, and was unable to sleep as the incident worsened previous PTSD from his experience during protests in Venezuela. 'It felt like we were being tortured,' Medina Rodriguez wrote. 'All we did was flood the floor to call for attention because they were not paying attention to our basic needs.' Medina Rodriguez wrote that before the use of force was deployed, an officer asked the detainees for their 'demands.' 'Send us back,' he recalled another detainee responding. 'There's no reason why we got transferred to a Federal Prison to be treated as prisoners when we are ICE detainees. We should be at an Immigration Facility.' The lawsuits were dismissed due to procedural issues after the detainees filed them independently. Krome is next In February, ICE signed a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house immigrants in civil detention in federal prisons and jails, accommodating for the ramp up of immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. But advocates and lawyers said that the United States prison system - which is understaffed and riddled with reports of poor conditions and abuse - is not a suitable place for detainees in immigration proceedings In recent months, Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Frederica Wilson, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick have visited Krome North Service Processing Center and the Broward Transitional Center, other South Florida facilities holding ICE detainees. The Democratic lawmakers have been vocal critics of conditions at the center in the wake of overcrowding and detainee deaths in South Florida. In January and February, two men died after they had been detained at Krome. While the autopsies were ruled natural deaths, the Herald found reports of questionable medical treatment. In April, a Haitian woman died at BTC. Gimenez said he next plans to tour Krome Detention Center, an ICE facility that falls within his district. Detainees there have told the Herald that the facility became severely overcrowded over the past four months, with men sleeping on the floor. 'I have to visit Krome to see what's going on with my eyes,' said Gimenez.
