Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed on Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are wearing masks in order to inspire fear.
ICE agents’ family members have recently faced “doxing,” a term that entails spreading personal information, including where people live and their contact information, according to a Friday Department of Homeland Security press release. Yet Newsom, on “mitú Daily,” questioned the need for ICE agents to wear masks and what they were fearful about.
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“Why are they masked? What are you afraid of?” Newsom asked. “If they’re doing your job … It’s to increase stress, it’s to increase anxiety … masked men, disproportionately men, in unmarked cars without identifying themselves, or at least difficult to even identify, from all of these multi-letter agencies that — even if you’re in the business of government — you don’t even understand what half of these agencies do and who they are.”
“And you’re being quite literally thrown in the back of a car, whether you’re a citizen or not, and they’ll figure it out later. That’s not America. That’s not what our founding fathers lived and died for,” he continued. “And so I get it. I get going after people that are criminals. I do. I understand — dangerous and violent people — no one wants dangerous and violent people. But that’s not what this is about.”
Border czar Tom Homan also told reporters during a May 30 press gaggle that assaults on ICE agents were increasing and that the “doxxing” of agents has hit “an all-time high.” He said the reason they wear masks is “to protect themselves and their families.”
Moreover, Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York voiced frustration about ICE agents wearing masks during their operations during a on “The Point with Marcia Kramer” June 1.
“I was a federal prosecutor for ten years. I worked with ICE agents. I worked with law enforcement agents. I never saw any of them wear masks,” Goldman said. “This is brand new and the question is: If everything is legitimate and proper, why are you wearing masks to hide your face?”
Democratic politicians have also likened ICE agents to sinister forces due to the fact they wear masks.
For instance, Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu likened ICE agents to a New England neo-Nazi group on June 4.
“I don’t know of any police department that routinely wear masks. We know that there are other groups who routinely wear masks, NSC-131 routinely wears masks,” Wu said.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also compared ICE agents to the Gestapo in a May commencement address at the University of Minnesota law school.
“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz claimed. “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons—no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”
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