NEW YORK (TNS) — Attorney General Letitia James is pushing Congress to pass legislation barring immigration agents from wearing masks to conceal their identities.Branding Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a “secret police force operating in the shadows,” James and 20 other Democratic state attorneys general joined a letter urging legislation to end what they call a widespread and dangerous effort to prevent people from identifying agents.“It is deeply disturbing that .
.. masked agents can pull people off the streets in unmarked cars without ever identifying themselves as law enforcement,” James said in a statement.
“Congress needs to act now to ensure that all law enforcement agencies, including ICE, are held to basic standards of transparency, accountability, and respect for civil rights.”The AG’s want new legislation to specifically bar ICE, border patrol and other Department of Homeland Security agents who enforce immigration from wearing non-medical face coverings such as masks or balaclavas that prevent the public from identifying them.The proposed measure would also order agents to clearly display their agency name or acronym and either their name or badge number.
Federal law already requires immigration agents to identify themselves when detaining suspects “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so. But the attorneys general say current ICE practices routinely ignore that rule.Immigration agents have started regularly wearing masks and taking o.
