Minnesota joins 17 states in suing Trump administration over masked federal agents
Minnesota is now one of 18 states suing the Trump administration to block the practice of immigration agents wearing masks during raids and arrests.
Advocates say it stokes fear, and it's not always clear if the officers are legit, but ICE says it has a good reason for wearing masks.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he first grew concerned about masked ICE agents when he saw a video in March of an ICE arrest of a graduate student just outside of Boston. The woman later said she had no idea who the masked people were and worried she might've been kidnapped.
"What ICE is doing is so dangerous," Ellison said.
COPAL, a leading Twin Cities immigrant group, says in Hispanic neighborhoods in the Twin Cities, people are wearing masks, pretending to be ICE agents and are even demanding citizenship papers.
"You have no idea if the person claiming to be an ICE officer is a legitimate officer. You also don't have as much accountability," Ryan Perez said.
But ICE counters, saying agents need to be masked.
"People are out there taking photos of the names, their faces, posting them online with death threats to their families and themselves," Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said. "So I am sorry if people are offended by people wearing masks, but I am not going to let my agents put their lives on the line and their families' lives on the line."
Perez says it's all escalating tensions and that when people are this afraid, bad things can happen.
"There's so much fear. There's so much distrust being bred," he said. "This isn't good for trust in law enforcement. This isn't good for trust in public safety."
ICE critics have introduced a bill in Congress called the "No Secret Police Act," which would require police and federal agents in immigration raids to wear identifying uniforms or insignias, except in limited circumstances.
