ICE Agents Claim Increased Assaults Are Why They Wear Masks

Let’s get right to the point: ICE is lying. Or at the very least, they’re doing what the Trump Administration often tends to do when the truth doesn’t serve them: distort facts, skew data, and lean on fear to justify injustice, but this time, it’s about agents hiding behind masks.

In recent weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security have claimed there’s been a 413% increase in assaults on their agents to justify why officers are operating in plainclothes, masked, and without identifying information. However, as pointed out by The Washington Post’s Philip Bump, it’s mostly smoke and mirrors.

In the analysis, Bump dismantles the agency’s claim by pointing out the obvious, that percentages without context are extremely misleading. For example, a 413% increase in attacks could mean assaults made a small jump from  8 to 41 or identify a larger problem with a higher rate from 200 to 1,026. That small but pertinent distinction matters because it’s being used to justify the federal government’s use of masked agents freely detaining people in broad daylight.

The truth is the decision is more of a power play than it is protection, because it gives “agents” the ability to avoid accountability. It’s about creating a fear-based narrative that allows ICE agents to create chaos and environments of fear as they continue to move more like a secret police force than a public institution funded by our tax dollars.

Since Trump’s return to office, ICE has ramped up its raids in sanctuary cities, with Trump ordering the amping up of ICE raids in Democratic-led cities and states. Initially claiming the purpose was to arrest criminals, unidentified agents have pulled people off the street, on their jobs, and detained elected officials like NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, all while hidden behind ski masks. According to Bump, when he first questioned this strategy back in May, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons fired back with a defensive letter, citing that infamous 413% increase in assaults; but when asked for hard evidence of doxxing, targeted attacks, or assaults outside the context of an arrest—ICE repotedly fell conveniently silent.

That’s because the truth is, most of the documented “assaults” took place during arrests due to people being unlawfully detained. In other instances, including the cases of both Brad Lander and Rep. LaMonica McIver, ICE agents were not touched at all. Video footage shows Lander attempting to stay in physical contact with a detained immigrant while simply asking for verification of the agents and the purpose for arrest, hardly the violent threat ICE made it out to be, while video footage from McIver’s arrest shows that she was the actual victim of assault. And yet, they’re using these incidents to argue that masks are a matter of life and death for their agents.

To be clear, no one is saying that actual law enforcement officers don’t face danger, but accountability doesn’t get suspended because a job is difficult. The argument that ICE officers are above the law and under an unprecedented threat is simply not true, especially when video footage and complaints overwhelmingly show regular people being detained often on the job or following immigration hearings and check-ins.

More to the point, many of these “assaults” ICE references wouldn’t have been prevented by masks. In fact, in one federal case, prosecutors used the fact that ICE officers were clearly marked and identifiable to argue the suspect knowingly assaulted law enforcement; so if visibility still caused assaults and helped build the government’s case–why hide now? Because hiding works for them by giving agents the ability to avoid accountability in court, online, or by the communities they police. It allows ICE to spin narratives without consequence and operate in the unknown with plausible deniability, while green-lighting behavior more sinister– the rise of unchecked authority.

In the continued fight against authoriatism, two California lawmakers have proposed the No Secret Police Act (SB 627), which would ban local, state, and federal law enforcement officers from covering their faces during public interactions, with some exceptions for undercover operations– a necessary step in a moment when ICE’s tactics are increasingly reminiscent of regimes we’ve spent decades condemning.

The “No Secret Police Act,” introduced by two Democrats in the California Senate, is a reaction to immigration sweeps across the country by masked agents in plainclothes, who are increasingly refusing to identify themselves by name or the agency they work for.

“The recent federal operations in California have created an environment of profound terror,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, (D-San Francisco), said in a statement. “If we want the public to trust law enforcement, we cannot allow them to behave like secret police in an authoritarian state.”

The bill, co-sponsored by state Sen. Jesse Arreguin (D-Berkeley), would also require officers be identifiable by their uniform. It would exempt SWAT teams and permit the use of medical-grade masks and those used to protect workers during emergencies like wildfires.

“This bill will ensure that law enforcement are easily identifiable, maintaining that trust and accountability,” Arreguin said in a statement.

Because the real danger here isn’t to ICE agents—it’s to our democracy.

SEE ALSO:

Department Of Homeland Security Claims ICE Doesn’t Engage In Racial Profiling

New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver Indicted On Assault Charges