Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

By David Lightman

Immigration enforcement officers would be required to display “clearly visible identification” while engaging in public action, according to legislation being introduced Tuesday by Sens. Alex Padilla and Cory Booker

Padilla, D-Calif., listed several incidents in California recently in which news reports said immigration officials did not identify themselves as they went into neighborhoods looking for undocumented immigrants.

“When federal immigration agents show up and pull someone off the street in plainclothes with their face obscured and no visible identification, it only escalates tensions and spreads fear while shielding federal agents from basic accountability,” said Padilla, the top Democrat on the Senate’s immigration subcommittee.

Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary, tweeted last week that agents “verbally identify themselves as with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or Homeland Security, they wear vests that say ICE/ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) or Homeland Security (and) they are flanked by vehicles that also say the name of the department.”

Padilla and Booker, D-New Jersey, said officers had been seen “engaging with the public while wearing unmarked tactical gear, concealing clothing, and face coverings that obscure both agency affiliation and personal identity.” ICE did not respond to questions about the statement by deadline.

Action in Sacramento

The Senate effort is the latest of several similar developments:

In Sacramento, legislation to bar law enforcement from covering their faces while conducting their operations was introduced by Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Jesse Arreguin, D-Berkeley.. Officers also must be identifiable by their uniform with their name or other means of identification. A hearing on the bill is scheduled for next week.

Padilla and 13 other Democratic senators, including Sen. Adam Schiff of California, wrote to ICE Monday asking, “What are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s policies with regards to wearing masks while on duty, and what are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s policies with regards to wearing uniforms or other identifiable markers while on duty?”

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted, “@realDonaldTrump’s immigration agents are parading around masked, in unmarked cars, and snatching hardworking people off the streets — ripping them away from their families and disappearing them into federal detention labyrinths just to meet indiscriminate arrest quotas.”

McLaughlin replied that immigration law enforcement “is facing a 700% increase in assaults against them because of attacks and demonization like this, @GavinNewsom.

“Officers are being doxxed online and even their families and children are being targeted. When @ICEgov law enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by highly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, criminal rings, murderers, and rapists,” she said, adding that many officials are working undercover.

Handcuffing Padilla

Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, has been a leading voice for immigration reform in Congress. On June 12, he got national attention when he was handcuffed by law enforcement officials after he tried to ask a question at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Los Angeles news conference.

He’s heard from constituents that they were unaware immigration officials were targeting their communities. The practice of staying anonymous, Padilla and Booker said in a statement, “endangers public safety by causing widespread confusion and fear, especially in communities already subject to heightened immigration scrutiny.

“It also increases operational and safety risks for law enforcement personnel by creating an opportunity for immigration enforcement impersonators and compounding uncertainty in high-stress situations,” they said.

They listed several incidents, each time citing Los Angeles Times reports.

At Dodger Stadium recently, the senators said, “plainclothes immigration agents parked outside of the stadium lot without identifying themselves.”

In Pasadena, “an agent exited an unmarked vehicle in the middle of the road and aimed his pistol at a group of pedestrians without identifying himself.”

Details of the Padilla plan

The legislation, which has no Republican sponsors at this point, would:

Require immigration enforcement officers — including DHS personnel such as Customs and Border Protection and ICE, federal agents detailed to immigration operations, and deputized state or local officers — to display clearly legible identification. That includes the agency name or initials and either their name or badge number, in a manner that remains visible and unobscured by tactical gear or clothing;

Bar non-medical face coverings that hide one’s identity or facial visibility, with exceptions for environmental hazards or covert operations.

Require DHS to establish disciplinary procedures for violations, report annually to Congress on compliance, and investigate complaints through its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

The bill does make exceptions, including covert action.

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