Bar Association Calls Out The Jackboot Thuggery Of ICE

Safeguarding the legal rights of all persons confronted by federal law enforcement officers is all the more important where this administration’s actions have already resulted in the unlawful detention of visa-holders, legal permanent residents, and United States citizens, the denial of due process to wrongfully detained individuals, and defiance of court orders demanding their return, alongside an escalating practice of detaining individuals as a reprisal for the exercise of their First Amendment rights. Just as no democratic government should seek to avoid answering to its people, no law enforcement officer should seek to avoid the scrutiny required to ensure their actions comport with the law. In the absence of the ability to identify individual masked agents, those who supervise, authorize, and oversee their actions should also share liability for the deprivation of rights under the Constitution.

Allowing masked [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] agents to conduct detentions also makes it increasingly likely that third-party actors will impersonate federal agents and use their anonymity to subject vulnerable populations to harassment and violence under the apparent color of law. In recent months, ICE agents have regularly refused to present warrants when requested. Coupled with the new practice of face coverings during detentions, it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish the conduct of an imposter from that of an authorized agent. Even before this apparent mask policy went into effect, a rise in crimes perpetrated by individuals impersonating ICE agents and other law enforcement officers – including harassment, theft, extortion, assault, battery, sexual assault, and kidnapping – was being reported. Tragically, at this writing, the suspect in the recent shootings of Minnesota state legislators and their spouses — two fatally — allegedly disguised himself as a police officer when approaching them at their respective residences at the time of the attacks.

— New York City Bar Association issued a statement critical of ICE’s alarming new trend of conducting arrests while masked, saying it “appears to be an effort to evade accountability, and to decrease transparency in response to increasing allegations of government overreach, abuse of power, and violations of constitutional rights.” The statement continues, “ICE agents’ use of masks not only screens potential abuses of power and shields officers from accountability, it is part of a pattern of government actions enabling the rise of repressive and authoritarian tactics. The images of people being grabbed off the street by masked, armed men, shoved into unmarked vehicles, and taken away to unknown locations bears a fearsome resemblance to the oppressive tactics of authoritarian regimes, methods of repression meant to eliminate opposition and instill terror. We must not tread this path.”

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