Democrat challenges Pam Bondi on controversial ICE tactic
Pam Bondi claimed she did not know ICE agents were wearing masks to conceal their faces during raids while she was being grilled on Capitol Hill. Trump's Attorney General was put on the spot by Democrat Michigan Senator Gary Peters during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
'Given the number of DOJ employees currently conducting immigration enforcement activities in support of DHS, how are you going to ensure that the safety of the public and the officers, if they continue to not follow required protocol to identify themselves as law enforcement?' Peters (pictured) pressed Bondi. 'Senator Peters, that's the first time that issue has come to me,' Bondi responded back, before pivoting to defend the actions of law enforcement officers. 'I can assure you that if they're covering their faces now, it's to protect themselves, but they also want to protect all citizens, and that's that's something we can work together on,' Bondi added.
The Daily Mail reported back in February that photos, names and personal details of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were being posted on fliers in a bid to dox federal agents carrying out mass deportation raids. The notices resembling Wanted Posters appeared in Los Angeles and showed the agents' faces, ages, their phone numbers and what part of city they're in as part of a growing plot to interfere in immigration raids.
O'Connell defended the public release of names of federal immigration officers involved in mass migrant round ups, claiming that the real concern isn't their safety, but that masked agents are 'whisking people' away. Names of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were posted to online by the City of Nashville, as part of a public records request that mandates information about immigration be posted online to a city website.
Back in March, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student who is currently studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was swarmed by a group of agents near her off-campus home. Footage of her being taken in showed a group of six people approaching her from angles, all of whom are masked and wearing gold identification badges. 'We're the police,' members of the group are heard saying in the video. A man is heard on camera saying, 'Why are you hiding your faces?'
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