Immigrant rights and human rights activists have warned for months that federal agents covering up their faces have created a number of problems, including the impersonation of officers.
WIRED reported Tuesday that last month, the FBI acknowledged that when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot be identified and confirmed as legitimate, it gives license to people to pose as officers and nab people.
Such was the case when a man claiming to be a sworn officer marched into a Raleigh, North Carolina, motel room and threatened to deport the woman if she did not have sex with him.
In a Bay County, Florida case, a woman unzipped her jacket to show an ICE t-shirt and ordered her ex-boyfriend's wife to come with her. The woman grabbed her and took her to an apartment complex before the victim was finally able to escape.
In a New York case, a man claimed he was an immigration officer and "directed [her] to a nearby stairwell," WIRED reported. He then punched her, tried to rape her, and took her cell phone. The police ultimately caught him.
In other cases, it's unknown if the attackers were, in fact, ICE agents taking advantage of their position or individuals posing as ICE agents.
WIRED said that the FBI's notice encouraged agencies to have their officers "clearly identify themselves and to cooperate when civilians ask to verify an officer’s identity—including by allowing calls to a local police precinct."
“Ensure law enforcement personnel adequality [sic] identify themselves during operations and cooperate with individuals who request further verification,” the bulletin said.
Federal laws mandate that immigration officers identify themselves and state the reason for an arrest. But in video after video of ICE agents grabbing people in Chicago, Portland and Washington, D.C. agents consistently refuse to identify themselves when bystanders request information. In one Chicago case, ICE pepper-sprayed a crowd of people filming them. One officer also pointed a gun at a woman who had her camera phone turned to him.
“The recent increased presence of armed, masked federal officers completely disrupts and erodes public trust in law enforcement,” Alycia Castillo of the Texas Civil Rights Project told WIRED. “Further, the increase in local cooperation with federal authorities through 287(g) agreements has led to a chilling effect on local law enforcement for communities."
The 287(g) program "deputizes local police to act as immigration agents," said WIRED.
In Chicago, ICE and other federal agents are in unmarked vehicles, and videos show that while many wear clothing that identifies their agency, some do not.
