A new bill to try to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to unmask has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives.
The bill would restrict federal funds to be used by the Department of Homeland Security “to carry out any civil immigration enforcement activity…unless each officer conducting such an action is not wearing a mask” or face coverings concealing their identity.
The legislation was introduced by U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who has been a critic of ICE operations.
For months, Democrats have accused immigration officials of carrying out masked raids in unmarked tactical gear, with some comparing the agents to the “Gestapo” or “brown shirts,” harkening back to Nazi Germany.
Crockett’s bill is the latest in a slew of Democrat-filed legislation to attemot to rein in immigration enforcement operations. It includes a bill previously reported by The Center Square that would prohibit federal immigration authorities from masking, called the Visible Act, which was introduced by a group of lawmakers, including Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.
Padilla claims the operations “lack of transparency” endangers “public safety by causing confusion, fear, and mistrust, especially in communities already subjected to heightened immigration scrutiny.”
The senator further claimed the masking “increases risks for law enforcement personnel,” adding that “individuals cannot distinguish real officers from impersonators.”
“When federal immigration agents show up and pull someone off the street in plainclothes with their face obscured and no visible identification,” Padilla wrote in a news release, “it only escalates tensions and spreads fear while shielding federal agents from basic accountability.”
As more Democrats push to unmask U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, the White House has pointed fingers at a surge in targeted violence against law enforcement agents.
The Trump administration says ICE agents are “facing a 700% surge in assaults,” blaming Democrats as a result of “dangerous, inflammatory rhetoric” directed at immigration officials.
Border czar Tom Homan has been vocal in criticizing rhetoric from Democrats.
“The rhetoric against the men and women of ICE is skyrocketing, especially by members of Congress,” Homan told Fox News. “We have senators, we have congresspeople [who] compare ICE to the Nazis, compare ICE to racists, and it just continues. So the public thinks, well, if a member of Congress can attack ICE, why can’t we?”
In February, Crockett was part of a group of lawmakers to introduce legislation that would prohibit immigration officers from targeting “schools, hospitals, and religious institutions without prior approval and exigent circumstances.”
Her latest piece of legislation has been referred to the House judiciary committee and will be awaiting action when Congress returns in September.
