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California lawmakers passed a measure that would ban most law enforcement officers from covering their faces while on the job in response to recent immigration raids in the Los Angeles area where some federal agents covered their faces and hid their identities.
The bill, approved on Thursday, now heads to Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Though if he signs it into law, it is unclear whether the state could enforce the ban on federal agents who have been carrying out raids and arrests at local businesses under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan.
The bill is the first of its kind to pass through a state legislature, although similar legislation has been introduced in several states, including Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Democrats on Capitol Hill have also proposed a mask ban for law enforcement officers.
Under the bill, local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents, would be banned from wearing neck gators, ski masks and other facial coverings while carrying out official business.
Exceptions would be permitted for undercover agents, medical masks like N95 respirators or tactical gear.
“How is anyone supposed to reasonably believe that they are law enforcement officers and not masked individuals trying to kidnap you?” he said ahead of the vote. “Imagine the absolute fear of being pulled over at gunpoint by a group of masked individuals.”
Bill supporters also cited an opinion from constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky at the University of California, Berkeley. He wrote in an opinion piece published in the Sacramento Bee that a state cannot directly regulate the federal government, but that does not mean federal employees can ignore state rules “unless doing so would significantly interfere with the performance of their duties.”
“ICE agents have never before worn masks when apprehending people, and that never has posed a problem. Nor have other officers of local, state and federal law enforcement faced dangers from the public because they don’t wear masks in the streets,” he wrote.
Republican lawmakers and law enforcement agencies argue that the legislation would only make the job more dangerous for officers.
“Bad guys wear masks because they don’t want to get caught. Good guys wear masks because they don’t want to get killed,” GOP state Sen. Kelly Seyarto said.
Trump administration officials have attempted to defend the practice of face coverings by stating that federal immigration agents have faced an increase in harassment in public and online.
But others, including several state attorneys general, argued that the use of face masks generates fear among the public and must be stopped.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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