CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2025 OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“REQUIRE IDS FROM FEDERAL AGENTS; END SOME FEARS”
If a U.S. senator
doesn’t work to alleviate the fears of his or her constituents, they probably
are not doing their job very well.
This explains
why, even when he knows the measure has no immediate chance for passage,
California’s Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla the other day introduced new
legislation requiring federal immigration enforcement agents to display clearly
visible identification during enforcement actions, except those involving
stealthy approaches to hideouts of the undocumented.
In California,
this should not strike anyone as new or dangerous to law enforcement officers.
The state penal code already requires uniformed officers to wear badges or
nameplates correctly displaying their identification number or name. It means
on-duty cops, sheriff’s deputies and Highway Patrol members cannot conceal
either their badge or name.
A current state
Senate bill called SB 627 would also make it a misdemeanor for law enforcement
officers to mask up while on duty, although this most likely could not be
enforced upon federal officers working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement
or the Border Patrol.
But in this case
such symbolism is important, letting the host of mostly brown-skinned
Californians now explicitly targeted by immigration agents, both legal
residents and not, know that at least some public officials are on their side.
Said Padilla, “Without
visible badges, names or insignia, members of the public often have no way to
confirm whether they are interacting with legitimate government
officials…causing widespread confusion and fear, especially in communities
already subject to heightened immigration scrutiny,”
Padilla, like
co-sponsor Cory Booker of New Jersey, knows this bill will not pass the Senate
in this session, controlled by Republicans aligned with President Trump and his
mass deportation campaign.
But it means
something to many of the targeted – legitimately or not – for prominent
senators to take their side.
Then there’s the
whole issue of whether immigration agents should be permitted to wear masks or
balaclavas in the first place while making arrests. If those under arrest
aren’t sure their captors are really government officials, can they be blamed
if they resist? So far, they’ve not only been blamed in such incidents, but
often beaten to a pulp.
California
officers could not do that. They must be identifiable unless working
undercover. Yes, they can be masked when conditions justify it, but their
badges must still be visible.
The federal
Department of Homeland Security has so far justified allowing masks and lack of
any identifying markers during arrests – both individual and mass – by claiming
that identification would expose agents and their families to danger.
But their danger
would be no more severe than the supposed peril of California officers, who
have been openly identified for years.
It’s true that
California cops who opposed the current state laws while they were still mere
proposals offered precisely the same arguments against identification now being
purveyed by Homeland Security. Yet, there has been no wave of attacks on
California officers.
In fact, several
online search engines reported there have been no reported incidents of targeting cops
based on badge or name visibility. Not even one case where assailants singled
out officers because their uniforms were identifiable as representing a
particular agency.
So at least in
California, there is no evidence for the kind of danger alleged by Homeland
Security. But it is still possible that because of the fear and hatred thus far
aroused by masked ICE agents, such incidents might occur.
Yet, federal
rules and laws are not usually based on such conjecture. Rather, it usually
takes some actual incidents for rules to become firm, as they appear to be
today.
That’s why, said
Padilla, “Our bill is grounded in law enforcement best practices that would
prohibit immigration enforcement officers from wearing face coverings and
require them to display name or badge number and the agency they represent. We
must act to maintain trust between law enforcement and the communities they
serve.”
That reasoning
may prevail someday in the Senate, but certainly not unless Democrats manage to
capture a majority there in next year’s election.
-30-
Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough,
The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch
It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias
columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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