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The Intercept
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Intercept
ICE Agent Caught on Camera Disguised as a Construction Worker
Despite their proclivity for wearing masks, the Department of Homeland Security denies that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents refuse to identify themselves in the field. 'I've been on a number of these operations,' Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said last month. 'They are wearing vests that say ICE or ERO, which is the enforcement arm of ICE or Homeland Security Investigations. They clearly verbally identify themselves.' But video from a confrontation in a New York state town that was reviewed by The Intercept contradicts her claims. In the footage, Juan Fonseca Tapia, the co-founder and organizer of the Connecticut-based immigrant advocacy group Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants, questions a man dressed as a construction worker. 'What agency are you with?' asks Fonseca Tapia, filming through his car window. 'I'm not going to tell you,' responds the man, who is wearing a high-visibility construction vest, an orange helmet and glasses, with a camouflage mask covering most of his face. 'It's none of your business.' The construction worker getup was actually a disguise — ICE confirmed to The Intercept that the man in the hard hat is an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. 'ICE New York City officers were conducting surveillance in Brewster, New York, August 2, when anti-ICE agitators followed them and attempted to disrupt their operation,' an ICE spokesperson told The Intercept by email. In the video – which was posted last weekend on social media by Greater Danbury Area Unites for Immigrants – the ICE agent said only that he is a member of 'federal law enforcement.' Neither 'ICE' nor 'ERO' is visible on his vest in the footage. That puts the lie to McLaughlin's claims that ICE agents identify themselves. Fonseca Tapia told The Intercept that he spotted a second man who was similarly disguised as a construction worker. 'I find it outrageous. It's indefensible. This is where we are crossing a dangerous line on immigration enforcement into these paramilitary type tactics with a secret police force,' said New York State Senator Patricia Fahy who last month introduced the Mandating End of Lawless Tactics (MELT) Act which would ban the use of face coverings and plainclothes by ICE and other federal enforcement agents during civilian immigration actions conducted in New York State. 'The first three words of the provision that we're adding into law are 'Masks and disguises prohibited,' period. And this video is Exhibit A. This is exactly what we are alarmed about.' On Tuesday, at a National Conference of State Legislators in Boston, Fahy joined colleagues from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in condemning the use of 'paramilitary-type secret police' tactics by ICE agents. 'We started to reach out to all the states that have legislation concerning masked ICE agents and said, 'Let's do this jointly. Let's collectively bring attention to this,'' Fahy told The Intercept. 'We had a couple of dozen lawmakers all standing up to say 'This is not who we are' and calling out these authoritarian-type tactics.' The interaction with the disguised construction worker began when Fonseca Tapia spotted a group of people he believed to be ICE agents in downtown Brewster. He began alerting day laborers who congregate in the area, while driving in his car. Soon, Fonseca Tapia said, realized that he was being followed in a vehicle by the man in the construction worker get-up. Eventually, he found himself surrounded by several vehicles with dark tinted windows. Fonseca Tapia said that the man in the construction worker disguise confronted him and repeatedly tried to persuade him to roll down his window or get out of the car. He said he feared that he might be 'kidnapped' by ICE. After Fonseca Tapia stopped filming, he said that the masked agent issued a warning: 'More of my guys are coming and we're going to take care of you.' To Fonseca Tapia, that sounded like an act of intimidation. 'It's literally a threat,' said Fonseca Tapia. 'You have three vehicles with very tinted windows, so it's impossible to see inside. People are wearing masks and refuse to identify themselves and one of them tells you he is going to call more of them to 'take care of you?' This is for sure an intimidation tactic to instill fear in people who are working to alert the community when there is an ICE presence.' 'It's undermining all of law enforcement because they come across as impersonators.' An ICE spokesperson cited 'increased assaults toward ICE,' as the reason that the ICE agent confronted individuals who followed and filmed them in Brewster. 'The officer was concerned for the safety of himself and others,' the spokesperson wrote. 'I don't know what the concern was — because he was following me,' said Fonseca Tapia. 'If he thought I posed a threat, I don't think he would put himself in danger by following me.' Since President Trump's return to office, masked ICE agents carrying out immigration raids have become increasingly common. Across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies working with ICE, launch operations wearing disguises or plainclothes and sometimes arrive in unmarked vehicles and arrest people without warrants. Often ICE agents don masks, balaclavas, neck gaiters or other facial coverings to conceal their identities. Lawmakers, veteran law enforcement officials, activists, and citizens have criticized the donning of masks by law enforcement as anti-American and for sowing confusion, chaos, and fear, while reducing accountability and undermining public trust. 'The failure of ICE officers and agents to promptly and clearly identify who they are and the authority under which they are acting has led witnesses of immigration enforcement operations to justifiably question the law enforcement status, authority, and constitutionality of ICE officers and agents and their operations,' wrote U.S. Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in a May letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, the Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, and top ICE officials. '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.' Fahy emphasized that she had a family member who served in law enforcement and that she saw the use of masks and disguises as a threat to law and order. 'It's undermining all of law enforcement because they come across as impersonators. There's no accountability and there's no transparency, so it erodes public trust and undermines decades of work and millions of dollars spent,' she told The Intercept. 'When they use disguises, these arrests – without presenting an arrest warrant, neither a judicial or even administrative warrant – come across as abductions or kidnapping. These are third-world tactics, and they should shock the collective conscience.' Read Our Complete Coverage The International Association of Chiefs of Police warns that 'members of the general public may be intimidated or fearful of officers wearing a face covering, which may heighten their defensive reactions.' An ICE spokesperson said the agency has no policy on masks, aside from pandemic safety requirements. The Department of Homeland Security has endorsed the agents' right to wear masks, citing attacks on agents or the doxing of law enforcement or their families. In an email, DHS specifically mentioned one Texas man's threat to shoot ICE agents as a reason to allow masks although it was unclear how a mask would protect an agent from a bullet. Nonetheless, DHS insisted that because of such fears, ICE would not discourage its agents from wearing masks during anti-immigrant raids. For almost two months, DHS has failed to respond to The Intercept's questions about escalating statistics quoted by government officials about supposed assaults of federal agents. In June, DHS told The Intercept that 'ICE law enforcement and their families are being targeted and are facing an over 400% increase in assaults.' ICE now claims that figure has jumped to 830 percent. ICE failed to answer The Intercept's questions about the use of disguises by ICE agents and if the agent who failed to identify himself in Brewster had been reprimanded. 'At no time did the officer attempt to make an arrest or detain anyone without being plainly marked as an ICE officer,' the spokesperson said. The New York City Bar Association has noted that secret police tactics are a gateway to further lawlessness. 'Allowing masked ICE agents to conduct detentions also makes it increasingly likely that third-party actors will impersonate federal agents and use their anonymity to subject vulnerable populations to harassment and violence under the apparent color of law,' the group said in a June statement. Bad actors have, indeed, masqueraded as ICE agents from coast to coast this year. Various people have reportedly impersonated ICE agents to commit or attempt robbery in Pennsylvania, kidnapping in Florida and South Carolina, scams in California, sexual assault in North Carolina, rape in New York, as well as acts of impersonation, intimidation and other offenses in California, Florida, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Washinton State. In Congress, Democrats have introduced several bills, including the No Secret Police Act, which would bar federal agents from concealing their faces with 'home-made, non-tactical masks' and require law enforcement officers and DHS agents engaged in border security and civil immigration enforcement to clearly display identification and insignia when detaining or arresting people 'If you uphold the peace of a democratic society, you should not be anonymous,' saidRep. Adriano Espaillat, D-NY, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. 'DHS and ICE agents wearing masks and hiding identification echoes the tactics of secret police authoritarian regimes – and deviates from the practices of local law enforcement, which contributes to confusion in communities.' An ICE spokesperson claimed the persons filming the agent in Brewster presented 'a safety concern for the officers, the community and even the agitators themselves' and that the 'ICE officer contacted the local police.' The Village of Brewster Police Department, however, told The Intercept that it did not take part in any such interaction. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office refused to entertain The Intercept's questions. 'We don't have somebody that would handle even communicating that to the press if it was even for the press's knowledge,' said a person who replied to a request for her name with 'No, thank you,' before hanging up. A message left for the department's civil affairs division was not returned. Fonseca Tapia said that personnel from both the Brewster Police Department and the Putnam County Sheriff's Office were called to the scene and spoke with him. 'This is a call to action for people to understand that this is wrong and this is not normal. Nobody is coming to save us. We are all we got,' Fonseca Tapia told The Intercept. 'Now is the time for action. People need to get involved because today it's immigrants' rights but who knows what group it's going to be tomorrow?'
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A pay raise for state lawmakers? Johns Island Republican defends the proposal
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) – A Republican senator from Johns Island defended his support Thursday for a budget amendment that could give state legislators their first pay raise in decades. State senators voted 24-15 on Wednesday to raise lawmakers' monthly stipend for in-district expenses from $1,000 to $2,500. That money is allocated to lawmakers on top of their $10,400 annual salary and per diems for expenses like travel to Columbia, lodging, and food. Proponents argue the bump is needed to help align compensation, which has stayed the same since the mid-1990s, with inflation. 'This is one pay item we brought inline with inflation,' Sen. Matt Leber wrote in an April 24 Facebook post. 'With 3 children and a wife, I must justify continuing to take the opportunity cost if I'm going to continue serving.' Leber, who operates a home rental business with his wife, said his personal savings have dwindled by about one-third since he took office in 2023. 'My personal business has nearly collapsed since going into office,' Leber wrote. 'I haven't flipped a house in 3 years.' The first-term senator noted that more than half of his annual salary pays for his apartment in Columbia, where he spends most of the week, and he's recently needed to up personal security because of 'the positions [he] takes.' 'It's becoming evident that only the independently wealthy will soon be in these positions making all the policy for South Carolina,' Leber wrote. 'I for one would like to have more blue-collar colleagues.' Governor McMaster endorses effort to slash boat property taxes Others, however, suggested the proposal is just a way for legislators to enrich themselves at the expense of South Carolina taxpayers. 'SC gov't does not care about you,' one user wrote on X. 'They are only interested in lining their pockets any way possible.' Sen. Tom Fernandez, a Goose Creek Republican, was among senators who opposed the increase, a move he believes sends the 'wrong message while families across our state are still struggling with inflation and the cost of living.' 'Leadership should come with sacrifice, not self-reward,' he wrote in an April 23 Facebook post explaining his budget vote. South Carolina lawmakers are among the lowest paid in the nation, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislators. Republican House leadership said they were not aware of the Senate plan and needed to discuss it with their colleagues before speaking publicly. A small conference committee of senators and House members will have to agree in about a month to keep it in the spending plan. The Associated Press contributed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania lawmaker pushes for federal legislation to keep Daylight Saving Time
(WHTM)– A Pennsylvania lawmaker will soon reintroduce a resolution encouraging the United States Congress to establish a year-round time system. State Senator Scott Miller said he plans to reintroduce a resolution urging Congress to put an end to the biannual time change and establish a set year-round time. Miller said the resolution would call for a stable, predictable year-round time system. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Miller argues that while Daylight Saving Time intends to benefit farmers, research has linked time shifts to increased car accidents, workplace injuries, strokes, and an estimated $400 million in lost productivity. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, at least 31 states have considered or are considering bills or resolutions related to daylight savings in 2025. The federal legislation would make Daylight Saving Time the new, permanent standard time. Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday, March 9, and ends Sunday, November 2, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A tax on digital advertising will hurt Rhode Island small businesses and consumers
Rhode Island lawmakers have a choice when it comes to a proposed tax on digital advertising, which opponents say could hurt small businesses and consumers. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current) As a former South Dakota State senator, past president of the National Conference of State Legislators, and a Certified Public Accountant, I've seen firsthand how tax policies can either help or hurt a state's economy. The digital advertising tax that is being pushed in Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee's proposed fiscal 2026 budget is a clear case of the latter — a misguided policy that threatens to harm every small business and consumer in the Ocean State. Advertising isn't just about flashy billboards or catchy jingles; it's a cornerstone of economic activity. An independent study commissioned by the Association of National Advertisers shows that advertising expenditures generate a whopping $22.4 billion in economic activity in Rhode Island alone, supporting over 106,000 jobs. That's 15.5% of all jobs in the state. Taxing digital ads opened Maryland up to litigation. McKee wants Rhode Island to do it anyway. When you tax digital advertising, you're not just targeting faceless tech giants, you're hitting the local coffee shop trying to reach new customers, the family-run bookstore promoting a weekend sale, and the startup striving to make its mark. You might think you're hitting the big guy but you're really just stepping on the little guy. As I noted in my testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee, because of this tax, small businesses would face tough choices. That is not the fate that legislators should be rooting for when it comes to Rhode Island's small business community. Proponents of this tax argue it's aimed at billion-dollar corporations, but history tells a different story. In France, a similar digital advertising tax ended up passing 55% percent of its burden onto consumers, according to a Deloitte study. Beyond the straight economic impact, this tax is a double whammy for businesses. Rhode Island companies already pay income tax, now they'd be taxed again just for advertising their products and services. This kind of double taxation doesn't just strain businesses —- it discourages them from growing, investing, and hiring. For a state in which business owners already face significant headwinds, this tax could be the final straw for many entrepreneurs. You might think you're hitting the big guy but you're really just stepping on the little guy. Let's not forget the legal minefield this tax creates. Maryland's attempt to implement a similar tax has been tied up in costly legal battles, draining taxpayer dollars with no end in sight. The proposed tax in Rhode Island could face similar challenges, potentially violating the First Amendment, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and federal laws like the Internet Tax Freedom Act. If the courts strike it down, Rhode Island could be on the hook to refund every cent collected, plus interest. With an already challenging fiscal situation on the horizon, that's a gamble the state can't afford to take. Digital advertising has been a game-changer for small businesses, leveling the playing field and allowing them to reach audiences far beyond their local communities. Over the past decade, it's fueled growth and innovation, helping more than 100,000 small businesses in Rhode Island thrive. Taxing this critical tool doesn't just stifle growth —- it sends a message that Rhode Island isn't open for business. A tax on digital advertising isn't just bad policy, it's a step backward. Rhode Island lawmakers have a choice: they can pursue short-sighted revenue grabs that hurt the very people they're supposed to serve, or they can focus on fostering a business-friendly environment that encourages growth, innovation, and prosperity. I urge lawmakers to reject this harmful tax and instead focus on policies that build a stronger, more competitive state. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
