Every day in America, armed gangs of masked thugs snatch people off the streets and force them into unmarked cars. And witnesses can’t tell if they should call the police or if that was the police. We need a mask ban for ICE and all law enforcement in our state, now.
The deportation agents have made all sorts of excuses for why it’s necessary to hide themselves from the public eye. The truth is they’re doing it for the same reasons criminal gangs do. They want to terrify people, and they want it to be harder to hold them accountable when they do wrong. It’s dangerous, and it’s unacceptable for officers who are supposed to answer to us.
The anonymity has encouraged abuses. Feeling shielded from consequences, ICE agents have been more prone to violence and violations of our basic rights. They feel like they’re above the law, above the people they claim they’re protecting. Furthermore, it’s given free rein to common crooks. The FBI has warned that criminals are posing as ICE officers to carry out robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults.
While there have been concerns about legal challenges to mask bans, we now have precedent that offers us a clear path forward. A federal judge struck down California’s law on the grounds that it singled out federal law enforcement and exempted state and local. Washington State has already responded by passing an across-the-board bar on facial coverings for police into law. We should too.
This Is the United States. We do not have secret police here. Let’s make it the law.
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