ICE chief's brutal takedown after Democratic mayor compares his agents to neo-Nazis
Todd M. Lyons took specific aim at Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries in a recorded statement.
Wu had previously commented about how ICE agents and the white supremacist group Nationalist Social Club-131 both wear masks.
'I don't know of any police department that routinely wears masks. We know that there are other groups who routinely wear masks. NSC-131 routinely wears masks,' the progressive mayor told reporters this week.
The Nationalist Social Club-131, better known as NSC-131, is a neo-Nazi group based in the New England area that claims to have chapters in France, Hungary and Germany, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Last week, Wu described ICE agents as a 'secret police' force that has 'snatched' illegal immigrants off the streets of Boston.
Lyons said the rhetoric of Wu and other Democrats is dangerous to ICE agents in the field, some of whom have been doxxed by communities facing immigration raids.
'Politicians need to stop putting my people in danger. I'm not asking them to stop. I'm demanding that they stop,' he said in his video message.
'Here's what I have to say to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, and anyone else stirring up outrage about ICE does,' Lyons said. 'These are real people with real families that you're hurting with your ridiculous rhetoric and inflammatory comments.'
Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, said Tuesday during a press conference that ICE agents concealing their identities with masks is a futile exercise.
'Every single ICE agent who is engaged in this aggressive overreach and are trying to hide their identities from the American people will be unsuccessful in doing that,' he said.
'This is America. This is not the Soviet Union. We're not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s. And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified. That, in fact, is the law,' Jeffries added.
Federal regulations stipulate that any US official making an immigration-related arrest must identify themselves as an immigration enforcement officer.
There is nothing in federal code requiring them to share their name with suspects, nor are there any rules about face coverings.
A May 23 joint letter penned by Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine accused the Trump administration of allowing ICE agents to wear masks when arresting 'nonviolent individuals without a prior criminal history.'
In the letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Border Czar Tom Homan and Lyons, the Democratic senators said the practice of ICE agents covering their faces used to be 'reserved for undercover or sensitive operations.'
'We remain deeply concerned that ICE's lack of transparency will lead the public to intercede in enforcement efforts, escalating an already tense interaction, and risking an entirely avoidable violent situation,' the letter read.
'Increased use of face coverings and lack of prompt and clear identification by ICE officers and agents in public is also having unintended consequences. Criminals are taking advantage of ICE's anonymity and impersonating law enforcement officers and ICE agents,' the senators claimed.
A May 23 joint letter penned by Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine accused the Trump administration of allowing ICE agents to wear masks when arresting 'nonviolent individuals without a prior criminal history'
Lyons, who has been leading ICE on an acting basis since March 9, has an explanation for why his agents have been covering their faces since Trump took office.
At a Monday press conference in Boston, he talked at length about how people leaked the personal information of ICE agents conducting a raid in Los Angeles, leading to death threats against them.
'People are out there taking photos of the names, their faces and posting them online with death threats to their families and themselves,' he said.
He described a joint operation between ICE and the Secret Service where they arrested a person who was 'going online, taking [ICE agents'] photos, posting their families, their kid's Instagram, their kids' Facebooks and targeting them.'
'So let me ask, is that the issue here, that we're just upset about the masks? Or is anyone upset with the fact that ICE officers' families were labeled terrorists,' he said while holding back tears.
Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, introduced a bill Wednesday that would make it a crime to dox federal law enforcement officials.
The bill would impose a maximum criminal penalty of five years in prison for anyone convicted.
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