Lindsey Graham Thinks It Should Be Illegal To Identify ICE Agents

Legal Issues

from the more-new-rights-for-the-powerful dept

We’re just supposed to assume that the masked person brandishing a gun and ordering us to get into an unmarked vehicle is a federal agent, rather than a criminal. We’re just supposed to buy into this new, hideous version of immigration enforcement that utilizes military gear, long guns, and a complete lack of identification as normal stuff Americans should just put up with.

But various gods forbid we actually expect public servants to be a bit more forthcoming about their public duties. Using apparently completely made-up stats about “increases” in “attacks” on ICE agents, ICE’s enablers justify the complete erasure of public accountability — something that starts with informing people you are actually a law enforcement officer by… you know… behaving like a law enforcement officer. Your agency should be named prominently. Your face — unless you’re engaging in a truly covert operation — should be visible.

Raiding homes and businesses to round up anyone looking kind of Hispanic in broad daylight isn’t a covert operation. Do your job right or get the fuck out of the business. If you’re in public, you assume the risks. But lots of people in or orbiting the Trump administration seem to think the government should be allowed to spend tax dollars without feeling obligated in any way to the people paying their salaries.

Enter someone who definitely hasn’t earned his publicly-funded paycheck, Senator Lindsey Graham.

If you can’t read/see the embed, it’s a Xtwit from Lindsey Graham, which says he wants to make it illegal for anyone to name/shame ICE agents.

I will soon introduce new legislation that would increase penalties for existing statutes — or if necessary create new statutes — designed to protect ICE agents or other law enforcement officers involved in covert operations.

[…]

Disclosing ICE agents’ identities, as threatened, could put the agents and their families in danger.

This is Senator Graham’s response to comments made by House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries during a press briefing last week.

Democrats and immigration rights advocates have criticized ICE agents for wearing masks, likening them to enforcers from fascist and communist regimes.

“This is America. This is not the Soviet Union,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a press briefing on June 3.

“We’re not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s. And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified.”

Everything Jeffries said is true. We’re not behind the Iron Curtain. We’re not Hitler’s Germany. We should not have secret police. So, it stands to reason, officers carrying out federal government programs should be immediately identifiable via name tags, marked vehicles, and prominent display of the federal agency they’re working for. We expect this from regular law enforcement. Federal law enforcement shouldn’t be given a special exception to this assumption.

The only reason anyone would advocate for this is because they want to distance their stormtroopers from any form of accountability. When rights are violated (and they are… all the time) during migrant raids, masks and stripping of agency emblems makes it all but impossible to file complaints, much less lawsuits, against government agents who have violated rights. It also ensures officers won’t be named and shamed.

It also protects officers from any internal attempts at accountability, however unlikely they might be under this administration. Ensuring officers always remain unidentifiable hamstrings internal investigations by making any outside recordings of public interactions with officers completely useless.

Any speculation about the danger posed to ICE agents’ “families” is exactly that: speculation. There is no evidence suggesting this sort of threatening is so commonplace it justifies the continuous hiding of agents’ identities. If it was, you’d expect to see more protesters or undocumented migrants facing criminal charges for these threats.

This is Graham, once again, rolling over to show Trump his exposed belly. And that would be fine if it only ensured Graham was beholden to Trump as long as Trump remains in power. But this move affects everyone. And it’s hard to believe it would survive a review by the courts, despite the pre-loading of federal courts Trump performed during his last term.

This is cowardice in service of cowards who claim to fear for their safety even as they wage a war of terror on migrant-heavy neighborhoods and businesses. If you want to wear the jackboots, you should be willing to take everything that comes with it, including the fact that you’re still a public servant carrying out your duties in public. If you don’t like that part of the job or your obligations to the American public, you’re more than welcome to leave the job. And the country.

Filed Under: dhs, ice, lindsey graham, mass deportation, public records, secret police