By Shari Rendall
FAIR
California and Massachusetts have introduced bills to prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings while on duty. More specifically, these bills are aimed at preventing immigration officials from wearing masks to protect their safety when they detain someone in those states.
The Massachusetts bill, House Docket (HD) 4886, prohibits state, local, and federal law enforcement officers from wearing a mask or personal disguise in the performance of their duties. Additionally, the bill requires law enforcement officers to have their names or badge numbers on their uniforms. It exempts medical masks as well as ones designed to protect against smoke or toxins and those worn by SWAT members to protect themselves. A violation of the law would be punishable as a misdemeanor.
Likewise in California, the No Secret Police Act, Senate Bill (SB) 627, also forbids state, local, and federal law enforcement officers from wearing a mask or personal disguise in the performance of their duties. SB 627 includes the same exemptions along with an exemption for undercover operations. The bill states that a violation of the law by an individual acting on behalf of a law enforcement agency, who is not a sworn peace officer, is a misdemeanor. Under the law, a first violation by an officer is an infraction while a subsequent violation is a misdemeanor. However, SB 627 goes a step further than the Massachusetts bill by requiring state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies to provide advance notice to other law enforcement agencies in the area if they will be conducting an operation where they will be masked.
The bills’ sponsors claim that the legislation is needed to ensure transparency. California sponsor Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) stated: “The recent federal operations in California have created an environment of profound terror. If we want the public to trust law enforcement, we cannot allow them to behave like secret police in an authoritarian state.” In Massachusetts, bill sponsor Representative Jim Hawkins (D-Attleboro) said that “the use of masks by ICE agents instills fear in communities rather than trust and exhibits a lack of accountability” and asked what they had to hide.
Speaking after an operation in Massachusetts last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons said: “People are out there taking photos of their names, of their faces, and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves. So, I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there, put their lives and put their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is.”
ICE Director Lyons has good reason to be concerned. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), assaults against ICE agents and other federal immigration enforcement officials are up nearly 700 percent from January 21 to June 30, compared to the same period last year.
Yet, ironically, while legislators are trying to forbid immigration enforcement officials from wearing masks to protect themselves and their families, anti-ICE protesters regularly use masks themselves. FAIR will continue to stand with law enforcement officers and support our federal immigration authorities.
