Make America Safe for Anti-ICE Doxxers!
by James A. Bacon
Federal immigration agents would be forbidden from wearing masks when making arrests under a bill that Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine plan to introduce to Congress, reports Axios Richmond. The proposal represents in part a response to incidents in Chesterfield County and Charlottesville courthouses where plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials wore masks when detaining illegal immigrants.
Democratic lawmakers oppose ICE agents wearing masks because…. Well, it’s not entirely clear from the Axios article what the thinking is behind the proposed bill. Axios notes that raids by ICE agents in plain clothes have fed fears that people were being kidnaped and that ICE impersonators have been harassing people, “creating … chaos and uncertainty in some communities.”
None of that warrants a ban on face masks. If the problem is ICE officials wearing plain clothes, then require them to wear uniforms. If the problem is impersonating ICE officials, then make such subterfuges illegal. The problem isn’t the wearing of masks in the abstract, or the proposed bill would say something about anti-Israel protesters who conceal their identities with masks. Critics (not necessarily Warner and Kaine) have likened the use of masks to secret police tactics.
ICE agents wear masks for a reason. Here’s an AI-generated summary:
“Increased Threats: ICE officials have reported a significant rise in threats and assaults against their agents, with claims of a 500% increase in assaults during operations. This alarming trend has led to concerns for the safety of agents and their families, prompting the use of masks to conceal their identities.
“Doxxing Concerns: The practice of doxxing, where personal information about individuals is publicly shared, has become a serious issue for ICE agents. Following incidents where agents were identified and targeted online, masks have been adopted as a protective measure to prevent their identities from being revealed during operations.
“Operational Security: Masks may also serve to enhance operational security during immigration enforcement actions. By obscuring their identities, agents aim to reduce the risk of being recognized and targeted by individuals opposed to their actions.”
Forbidding ICE agents to wear masks would expose them to doxxing, personal threats and intimidation of their families by militant protesters who, ironically enough, often wear masks themselves. That’s the way the far left does business these days. I can’t believe that Warner and Kaine would countenance such behavior. But that could be the unintended consequence of their proposal.