By Christopher Weber
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County leaders want to prohibit law enforcement officers from concealing their identities while on duty, a response to recent immigration raids during which some federal agents refused to identify themselves or covered their faces.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4—0, with one abstention, to direct county counsel to draft an ordinance that bars officers, including federal agents, from wearing masks, with limited exceptions such as for medical protection or during undercover operations. Officers would also be required to visibly display identification and agency affiliation while out in public.
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Since early June, immigration agents have arrested hundreds of people in Southern California, prompting protests against the federal raids and the subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines. About half the Guard troops and all the Marines were pulled out of LA in recent weeks.
Supervisor Janice Hahn, who co-authored the motion, said the raids have sparked fear and residents have a right to know who is stopping, questioning or detaining them.
Hahn conceded that it is unclear if the county will be able to enforce the law when it comes to actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies. “Ultimately, it might have to be decided by a court,” she said.
Administration officials have defended the practice of officers wearing masks, saying immigration agents have faced harassment as they have gone about their enforcement. Officials said agents are hiding their identities for their safety to avoid things like death threats and doxing, where someone’s personal information is released without their permission on the internet.
“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” ICE acting director Todd Lyons said last month.
In the state legislature, a pending measure would ban local, state, and federal police from covering their faces while conducting operations in California. And a similar bill has been introduced into the U.S. Congress by Democratic senators Alex Padilla, of California, and Cory Booker, of New Jersey.
County counsel has 60 days to submit the draft ordinance to the board for approval.
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