Michigan has joined four other states who have introduced legislation to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from wearing masks, with the Wolverine state calling for jail time for violators.
Democrats in California, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania also have introduced similar bills as part of an attempt by those lawmakers to “increase transparency and limit the agency’s expanded powers” under President Donald Trump, Newsweek reported this week.
As Breitbart News has reported, federal authorities say ICE officers have been wearing plain clothes and using masks during raids to hinder their identification they or their families won’t be targeted off the job by open boarder advocates.
Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) also introduced a bill at the federal level banning the practice.
Michigan House Democrats compared masking to “secret police” tactics, MLive, reported. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) told the news website:
For the average person, these incidents look like violent kidnappings. With this new federal tactic of wearing masks with no identification, there is no way for the public, the people being accosted or grabbed or even local law enforcement and local, state elected leaders to know who these folks are.
The Michigan bill not only bans ICE and Border Patrol from wearing “non-medical” face coverings, it requires officers to display their agency, their name and their badge number.
President Trump has spoken out several times on the masking controversy, saying Democrats outrage over the practice is hypocritical in that he’s heard no lawmakers complain about protestors wearing masks in violent demonstrations.
Violators would be charged with a misdemeanor that carried a $1000 fine and up to 90 days in jail.
“This is the problem with Democrats,” he said earlier this month. “They have a lot of bad things going on in their heads.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel was an award-winning reporter for the Detroit News. He is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
