Some state, county and local leaders are calling for the unmasking of federal agents amid ongoing enforcement operations, a handful of which have turned violent.
Since early June when some 4,000 members of the California National Guard, 700 active-duty U.S. Marines and an unknown number of federal officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection descended on Los Angeles, many have pointed out how the latter two agencies typically wear masks during enforcement raids.
During a tense meeting last week of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, the issue of masked men, who may or may not be federal agents, detaining residents was addressed, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the sole Republican on the board, said that a staff member’s godson was pulled over by two men in an unmarked car complete with flashing lights and told he had a “nice truck for someone with his surname.”
“I tell you this story because we don’t know if they were ICE agents or not,” she said. “I do believe there may people out there impersonating ICE, taking advantage of this population.”
Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it was unclear to her why federal agents have repeatedly been seen wearing “half-face, ski-type masks in L.A. in the summer” and suggested the board support a bill proposed by state lawmakers that would ban members of law enforcement, including federal agents from wearing masks.
On Saturday, as many as seven masked agents were seen in a violent arrest of a Santa Ana man, whose three sons all sever in the U.S. Military.
Last week, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen was seen in a violent struggle with a half-dozen masked federal agents in Pico Rivera after he reportedly punched one of them in the face during an enforcement operation. The young Walmart employee was released about three days later and has yet to be charged with assault, according to his lawyers.
In Huntington Park, where a pregnant mother of four, also a U.S. citizen, and her children were forced onto their driveway as masked federal agents unsuccessfully searched the house for her husband while DHS Sec. Kristi Noem watched from the street, the mayor has condemned what he referred to as “masked abductions.”
“These are not lawful arrests. These are abductions,” Mayor Arturo Flores said. “For more than a week, we have witnessed families being torn apart, children left without parents, and residents vanishing without explanation. Men dressed in tactical gear, operating unmarked vehicles without displaying credentials or agency affiliation, have infiltrated our neighborhoods in direct violation of our community’s values, civil rights, and the basic principles of due process.”
L.A. County lawyers told the board of supervisors that federal agents are required to identify themselves during an enforcement operation and, according to The Times, added that there’s “some room” for when that must happen.
As for the state bill proposing a ban on masked law enforcement, an attempt to put restrictions on what federal agents can and can’t do in California would most likely face an immediate challenge in court.