California adopts Bill Banning Face Masks for the police during raids
The Supreme Court raises limits to ice raids
The acting American lawyer for California California California Bill Essayli discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to raise restrictions on ice raids in Los Angeles on “America Reports”.
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California legislators have adopted a measure that would prohibit most law enforcement agents to cover their face during work in response to recent immigration raids in the Los Angeles region where some federal agents have covered their faces and hid their identity.
The bill, approved on Thursday, is now going to the office of the Governor Democrat Gavin Newsom. Although if it is a sign, it is not clear if the state could enforce the ban on federal agents who have made raids and arrests in local businesses as part of President Donald Trump’s mass expulsion plan.
The bill is the first of its kind to go through a state legislature, although similar legislation has been presented in several states, notably Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The Democrats of Capitol Hill also proposed a mask ban for agents of the police.
Under the bill, local and federal officers, including immigration agents, would be prohibited from carrying neck slides, ski masks and other facial covers while performing official affairs.
The County of Los Angeles pushes to prohibit the police from hiding their identity during his job
California legislators adopted a bill prohibiting the front masks for police officers during their service. (AP photo / Eric Thayer)
Exceptions would be authorized to infiltration agents, to medical masks such as N95 respirators or tactical equipment.
Newsom has about a month to sign the legislation. Although he criticized the use of masks by federal agents during arrests, he also raised questions during the summer on the authority of the State on federal agents.
Federal agents have carried out immigration raids in southern California since June, arousing demonstrations and the subsequent federal deployment of the National Guard and Marines.
Supporters of the bill declared that the proposal was necessary following a decision of the Supreme Court earlier this week, allowing the federal government to resume radical immigration raids in Los Angeles, which also allows agents to target migrants according to things like the race or ethnicity, speaking in Spanish or in particular in specific places.
The member of the Juan Carrillo Assembly, a Democrat, said that Scotus’ decision “effectively allows federal agents to stop suspects based solely on their race, language or work.”
The Massachusetts bill would force ice agents to unmask
Exceptions to the ban on mask would be authorized to infiltrated agents, medical masks such as N95 respirators or tactical equipment. (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)
“How is someone supposedly believed to believe that they are law enforcement agents and not masked individuals who try to kidnap you?” He said before the vote. “Imagine the absolute fear of being arrested under the threat of a weapon by a group of masked individuals.”
Supporters of the bill also cited an opinion from the expert in constitutional law Erwin Chemerinsky at the University of California in Berkeley. He wrote in an opinion article published in the Sacramento bee that a state cannot directly regulate the federal government, but this does not mean that federal employees can ignore the rules of the state “, unless it interferes considerably with the exercise of his functions”.
“Ice agents have never worn masks when they apprehend people, and that has never been a problem. No other local, state and federal police officer has faced public dangers because they do not wear masks in the streets,” he wrote.
Republican legislators and law enforcement agencies argued that legislation would only make work more dangerous for officers. (Getty Images)
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Republican legislators and law enforcement agencies argue that legislation would only make work more dangerous for officers.
“The bad guys wear masks because they don’t want to get caught. The good guys wear masks because they don’t want to be killed,” said Gop State Kelly Seyarto senator.
Trump administration officials tried to defend the practice of facial coatings by declaring that federal immigration agents faced an increase in public and online harassment.
But others, including several general prosecutors, argued that the use of facial masks generates fear among the public and must be stopped.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
