The Trump administration on Monday challenged in federal courtroom California’s ban on most law enforcement officers from wearing masks during operations, a transfer the Department of Justice insisted was essential to shield federal brokers.
In a lawsuit filed within the US District Court for the Central District of California, the Trump administration argued that California’s law, signed in September in response to immigration raids over the summer time in Los Angeles, was an unconstitutional try to regulate federal law enforcement officers.
The transfer comes after months of immigration arrests performed by masked federal brokers who use aggressive tactics throughout the nation. California’s ban was slated to go into impact in January subsequent yr.
The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted masks are an vital precaution taken to keep the security of law enforcement officers. Attorney General Pam Bondi stated in a press release Monday that “they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties.”
“California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents,” she stated.
Meanwhile, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has insisted the ban pushes again towards the federal authorities’s use of masked brokers with out identification or badge numbers to detain individuals on the streets throughout immigration raids.
“It’s like a dystopian sci-fi movie. Unmarked cars, people in masks, people quite literally disappearing,” Newsom stated at a press convention when he signed the law. “Immigrants have rights, and we have the right to stand up and push back, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”
The law, the primary of its variety within the United States in accordance to the Associated Press, bars neck gaiters, ski masks and different facial coverings for native and federal officers who’re conducting official enterprise. There are exceptions for undercover brokers, medical masks and tactical gear. The ban doesn’t apply to state police.
Currently, there is no such thing as a federal coverage dictating when officers can or ought to cowl their faces throughout arrests. Historically, officers have virtually all the time hid their faces solely whereas performing undercover work to shield the integrity of ongoing investigations, law enforcement consultants have told NCS.
The observe of hiding of brokers’ faces, badges and figuring out uniforms has made it troublesome for members of the general public to know whether or not the immigration arrests over the previous a number of months are respectable. John Sandweg, former performing director of ICE beneath President Barack Obama, instructed NCS in August that it was “incredibly dangerous” for the officers to make arrests with out clearly figuring out themselves.
“The risk is really obvious, right? You’re sitting there and all of a sudden a bunch of masked men run out and are grabbing someone on the street,” he stated on the NCS One Thing podcast. “There are good, well-intentioned bystanders who might think that they need to step in and help and that they’re witnessing a kidnapping.”
NCS’s Eric Levenson and Josh Campbell contributed to this report.