The images are discordant. Throughout the country, federal law agents with simple clothes and with ski and balaclavas masks are taking and stopping protesters, students And even elected officials. These scenes evoke images of government thugs in violent regimes that disappear to opponents.
This is not how surveillance should be seen in a democratic society. That is why everyone, regardless of the affiliation or political position on the application of immigration, should support the bills that are introduced into Congress to address this growing problem. Three legislation, in consideration or expected soon, would prohibit the masking of immigration and customs compliance agents, including ONE THURSDAY of the representatives Dan Goldman (Dn.y.) and Adriano Espaillat (Dn.y.) and one expected soon from sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (Dn.J.). These are obvious measures of common sense that should not need to be coded by law, but given reality today, and what is being done in the streets of the whole country, clearly do.
In the United States, those in charge of enforcing the law are public servants, who respond to people through their elected representatives. The use of uniforms and badges, and identifying publicly, are those that make clear the authority of an officer and allow public responsibility.
That is why US police agencies generally have policies that require officers to use a badge or other identifier that includes their name or other unique brand, such as a flagship number. Therefore, not long ago, one of us He wrote a letter On behalf of the Department of Justice to the Chief of Police in Ferguson, Missouri, to ensure that officers were easily identifiable during protests. This letter was sent by the Federal Government, in the middle of the Federal Civil Rights investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, because guaranteeing this “basic component of transparency and responsibility” was considered too important to delay the increase until the end of the investigation. For a long time exceptions for scenarios such as undercover work have been made, but for a long time it has been understood that, as a general rule, US law agents will identify and show their faces.
This fundamental democratic norm is now at risk. In February, masked ice officers with riot equipment assaulted an apartment complex in DenverOne of the first times that the Americans saw agents hide their faces at work. In March, the practice caught the general care when the doctoral student at the University of Tufts Rumya Ozturb He was taken by civil ice officers, one of them masked, while walking down a street in Somerville, Massachusetts during spring, The spectators captured videos of masked or civil ice application actions. From coast to coast, in small towns and large cities.
ICE says that it allows this for officers to protect themselves from being recognized and harassed or Even assaulted. ICE's arguments will simply not be washed. His claims about how many officers have been attacked are Subject to a serious question. However, even if they were not, the masked police are simply unacceptable.
At the most basic level, Masked, anonymous Officers have a security concern both for the individuals arrested and for the agents. It is understandably much more likely that people ignore the instructions or even defend themselves when they think they are being kidnapped by someone who is not an agent of the law. If the objective is to obtain compliance, masks are counterproductive. It is much safer to encourage cooperation by appealing to the authority of one as an agent of the law, which almost always works. When people are seized by masked strangers who do not establish their legal authority, who could blame them for defending?
Related, there is a very real and growing threat of Supplant application of the law. There has been a disturbing increase in the incidents reported of “Ice Supplies”, in which individuals dress as ICE or officials responsible for enforcing the law to exploit the trust and authority invested in the application of the law. Just this month, the assailant in the recent murder of a legislator from Minnesota was passed through a police officer. Other examples are abundant throughout the country. As Princeton University pointed out in a Recent noticeWhen the law agents do not clearly identify themselves, it becomes even easier for the imposters to pose as a application of the law. The replicas of the ice jackets have become A Sales Success at Amazon.
The most fundamental, masked arrests undermine the legitimacy of the application of the law. The legitimacy of government agencies is essential for effective surveillance, and legitimacy requires transparency and responsibility. When officers hide their identities, they send the clear message that they do not value those principles and, in fact, see them as a threat.
Federal law currently requires a certain Clear responsibility measures By federal officials of immigration compliance, including that officers must identify themselves as officers and affirm that the person under arrest is, in fact, under arrest and reason. That should sound familiar and be a relief for those of us who are grateful not to live in a secret police state.
But those words are cold comfort if you face someone with street clothes and a ski mask, without the way of knowing if they say or who holds up if they violate your rights.
ICE officials cannot be allowed to continue enforcing our laws while hiding their identities. Transparency and responsibility are what democracy separated from authoritarianism and the legitimate police of the Secret Police in anti -democratic regimes. The images we are seeing are unrecognizable to the United States, and should not be tolerable to anyone.
Barry Friedman is a law professor at the University of New York and author of “unjustified: surveillance without permission.” Christy Lopez is a professor of the practice at the Law Faculty of the University of Georgetown. She directed the Police Practices Unit in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice of 2010-2017.
