A key Republican lawmaker is now calling on President Donald Trump to require federal immigration agents to stop wearing masks during operations — a core demand of Democrats in response to brutal immigration crackdowns that have left cities like Minneapolis in turmoil.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said, “They need body cameras. They need to remove masks. They need proper training. They need to be conducting operations that are consistent with their mission."
“You should not have Border Patrol agents from McAllen, Texas, put inside an inner-city doing crowd control," added Fitzpatrick, a vulnerable lawmaker from a heavily targeted district who is known for trying to strike deals with Democrats. "That’s not their mission, that’s not their training. They don’t know how to do it.”
The extensive use of masks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conceal their identities has caused widespread fury from good-government advocates, who have asserted that this effectively makes them secret police with no accountability. One federal judge even compared masks on ICE agents to Klan hoods.
Talks are set to carry on over the next two weeks on reforms to immigration enforcement to be attached to a yearlong Department of Homeland Security funding bill. After it became clear the government was on track for a shutdown, Republicans, with Trump's blessing, agreed to split off DHS from the rest of the government funding and pass a two-week stopgap to allow for talks.
However, the White House and Trump's loyalists in Congress do not appear receptive to many of the Democrats' demands, another being a requirement for ICE and Border Patrol agents to have a judicial warrant for searches and arrests. "If we have to get a search warrant to get 15 million people out, Schumer's telling me he doesn't want them out," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to reporters earlier this week.