A federal judge on Monday a California A law is about to go into effect banning federal immigration agents from covering their faces, but they will still be required to wear clear identification showing their agency and badge number.
After last summer’s high-profile raids by ICE officers in Los Angeles, California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings under a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.
The Trump administration In November, it filed a lawsuit challenging the law Harassment, doxing and violence threaten the safety of officers. The Justice Department says the law violates the Constitution because it directly regulates California’s federal government. The agency argued that federal officials should be able to choose whether or not to wear face coverings.
“Denying federal agencies and officials chills federal law enforcement and deters applicants for law enforcement positions,” the Justice Department wrote in its lawsuit.
Judge Christina Snyder said that because the mask ban went into effect it did not apply to state and local law enforcement officers, so it discriminated against the federal government.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi called the ruling a “significant court victory”. Post On social media, federal agents said they were “attacked daily for doing their jobs.” The Justice Department “always has the backs of our great federal law enforcement officers,” she added.
California state Sen. Scott Weiner, who proposed the original bill to ban face shields, said he would immediately introduce new legislation to include state police in the law.
“ICE and the Border Patrol are covering their faces to further their terrorist campaign and shield themselves from accountability,” Weiner said in a statement. Advertisement. “We will ensure that our mask ban is enforced.”
Snyder allowed a separate law to stand, requiring state and federal law enforcement officials to show identification. Newsom’s office did not respond to questions about the Mask ruling, but called the recognition ruling a “clear victory for the rule of law.”
The rulings will have national implications as states grapple with how to deal with federal agents enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The widespread use of masks by ICE officers has been widely criticized by state officials across the country, who say the face shields create a climate of fear and lack of accountability in local communities.
Democratic lawmakers across the US have argued that federal law enforcement officers should not be allowed to wear face shields. Legislators in Massachusetts and New York have introduced bills that would ban federal agents from wearing masks while conducting immigration enforcement operations.
Last week, the minority leaders for the House and Senate, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, wrote a letter to their colleagues making the demand. Act of the LegislatureTo rein in ICE. One of the reforms they outlined would be to “prohibit ICE and immigration enforcement agents from wearing face coverings”.
Both of California’s laws are set to go into effect Jan. 1, but California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has agreed not to enforce either law while it considers Snyder’s ruling on the Trump administration’s lawsuit.
On Monday, Bonta criticized the administration, saying it “stepped well outside the bounds of normal practice, deploying masked and unidentified agents to carry out immigration enforcement.” But Snyder defended the law requiring agents to visually identify themselves, saying, “Transparency and accountability are the foundation of good law enforcement.”
Snyder’s decision, if applied to all law enforcement agencies, leaves open the possibility of future legislation prohibiting federal agents from wearing masks, the judge wrote, adding that “the Court finds that federal officers may perform their federal duties without wearing masks.” Snyder has extended her ruling until February 19, so the recognition act is unlikely to go into effect until then.
