California Bill Would Ban ICE From Wearing Face Masks

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5 hours ago

With deportation raids continuing across the country, ICE agents and other immigration enforcement have shown a particular fondness for hiding their faces with gaiter- and ski mask-style face coverings. It's caused an uproar on the internet, with many people calling out the hypocrisy of President Donald Trump being adamantly against protesters wearing face masks while rallying behind police officers who do the same.
ICE agents presumably cover their faces to conceal their identities on camera, but the Department of Homeland Security says it's to "protect themselves from being targeted by known and suspected gang members, murders, and rapists."
This debate made its way over to Reddit's r/politics recently. User Aggravating_Money992 started the conversation with a Newsweek article about the "No Secret Police Act," a new bill proposed last week in the California State Senate that would ban law enforcement, including ICE, from covering their faces on duty.
Newsweek reported that bill co-author Scott Wiener wrote in a press release that, "The recent federal operations in California have created an environment of profound terror. If we want the public to trust law enforcement, we cannot allow them to behave like secret police in an authoritarian state."
Here's what some of the 16,000+ commenters had to say:
"How about they start announcing themselves as law enforcement, too, instead of just wearing plain clothes and pushing people into unmarked vans. Or maybe, how about this, they provide due processes as well, so people are not deported to Salvadoran death camps without due process."
"In California, when a cop pulls you over, the first thing they have to do is tell you why you're being pulled over. It's a fucking game changer."
"Yeah, but think about these poor, poor ICE officers. How else are they going to get their KGB cosplay on? The Gestapo and NKVD/MVD at least had the courtesy of wearing military style uniforms, before shoving you into a van or truck to who knows where."
—The_Shitty_Admiral
"ICE agents lack qualified immunity. That's why they are wearing masks, and that's why the DOJ is relentlessly pretending to arrest anyone who opposes them (who they then have to immediately release without charges)."
"Fun fact, we don't actually know for certain that people haven't been thrown into vans by people who aren't actually ICE officers and had god knows what happen to them."
"Amazing double standard when Trump wants to ban masks for protestors."
"DHS policy already requires that agents wear ID, but of course, Homeland Secretary Puppy Shooter refuses to enforce her agency's own requirements."
—AcadiaLivid2582
"I cannot believe this has to be a law... of course they shouldn't wear masks."
"I genuinely think they know that morale/zealotry will drop if ICE agents have to be identifiable. These guys like being cruel bullies if they get to hide behind their mask, but if you see their face, they'll wilt."
"Some of these are 'fallen officers' — dismissed or criminal. Obviously not a job an upright cop would do, given the tactics and bounty-pressure from Trump. I mean they're rounding up and rendering working people dropping off kids at school, off menial jobs on farms, in slaughterhouses, and such. Hardly the pinnacle of a crime-fighter's fantasy."
"Question: If an ICE agent is wearing a mask, refusing to show ID or a badge, and with no paper warrant is then shot by a terrified homeowner during one of their no-knock raids, does the homeowner have any sort of legal Castle defense, or does the fact that these invaders seem to be law enforcement officers negate that?"
"How is a person supposed to differentiate between ICE and a different bad guy home invasion in the heat of the moment?"—TheRealTinfoil666
"They should be required to wear uniforms, too. A redcoat to show support for their king would be appropriate."
"If someone looks like they're posing as a federal or state police, FBI, ICE, etc. I will assume they are bad actors. Especially after the assassinations! Show your face, show your warrant, your badge, or I show you me defending myself and the people around me."
"And they must wear their correct name tags… we must be able to face our accusers. Video provides accountability."
"But... but... but then they won't be able to hide their identities during the kidnappings!"
—phosdick
"There's only one reason to wear a mask as a law enforcement officer. You're doing something that will bring harm to you or your loved ones if you are identified. In South American countries, you see drug task force officers wearing masks for fear of the safety of their loved ones should they be identified by the cartels/gangs. That isn't the case here; these guys aren't concerned about violence against them. They're wanting anonymity so if and when the tables turn, they can't be positively identified and held accountable for their heinous actions."
"I feel like we've reached a point where passing a law won't do much of anything since nobody will enforce it."
"I'm confused. I thought these were the same people who said they couldn't wear masks during COVID because they couldn't breathe?"
"As it stands we are expected to SUBMIT to any Tom, Dick, or Harry who pounds on our door wearing a mask. We are not able to verify who the fuck they are and they are not required to prove anything to anyone as they often say they 'are not permitted to' disclose their own identity. How is this not going to be abused? Look what happened in Minnesota, where law-abiding legislators opened their door to someone they believed was law enforcement, only to be executed."
"The reasoning for our Miranda rights goes beyond the rights themselves; it is not possible for society to function otherwise. These rights are structural to all procedures, and it is pure dysfunction to remove them. We will see much more abuse, not to mention that the 'official' ICE agents are already a sign of extreme dysfunction."—Friendo_Marx
"ICE agents SHOULD be banned from wearing masks. Period. Don't forget that you pay their salaries. Shouldn't we know who our employees are?!"
"It's gonna take some masked asshole, pretending to be an ICE agent attacking or killing lawmakers before we do anything. Oh, wait, we are already there."
"I see zero reason why they should be allowed to hide their faces. If you're doing your job properly, why do you need to hide your face to protect yourself from lawsuits? If you're the 'good guys,' why do you need to hide your face at all? Why all the secrecy? Kind of hard to abuse your power when people know who you are, I guess."
"'It's for their safety!' Right, why do police officers usually not cover their faces, but people who kidnap people do? Weird..."—CharlesB43
"Watch Republicans argue that it's illegal to stop police from having the choice to wear a mask or not."
What do you think? Sound off in the comments.