A group of Democratic state representatives intend to introduce legislation banning law enforcement from wearing masks and nondescript clothing, as federal agents ramp up enforcement across Pennsylvania.
The lawmakers are attempting to build support for the proposal, which incorporates exceptions for undercover assignments and health emergencies, such as a future pandemic. It has yet to be formally introduced in Harrisburg.
Law enforcement officers, in most circumstances, would be prohibited from donning facial coverings and required to wear uniforms or other clothing that clearly represents their agency or department.
Three of the measure’s eight primary sponsors are from Philadelphia – Joe Hohenstein, Rick Krajewski and Ben Waxman. The whole slate, in a joint statement this week, said “trust and public safety are essential pillars of a secure community.”
“When government agents and law enforcement conceal their faces and act without identification, it jeopardizes both of those pillars,” the lawmakers continued. “This legislation will ensure that the public is able to identify that someone is a government officer, strengthening the community’s confidence in law enforcement, and protecting officers and community members from those who would use obscurity to cause harm.”
In a memo encouraging fellow legislators to support the forthcoming bill, they argue the provision will make officers and the public safer, enhance transparency and deter politically-motivated violence. It’s not clear how much backing the measure will receive in the divided state Capitol or whether it will stand up to potential legal challenges.
Similar legislation has been introduced or floated in the U.S. Senate and several other states and localities, amid an influx of pictures and videos of masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting raids.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview that aired over the weekend, defended masking as a way for immigration officers to protect themselves and their families.
He asked elected leaders considering such bans to also draft legislation strengthening protections for agents subject to harassment and “doxxing,” or having their identities, home addresses and contact information posted online.
The Pennsylvania Democrats, in the memo, noted that Vance Boelter, the suspect in last month’s targeted shooting of Minnesota lawmakers, allegedly impersonated a police officer during the attacks.
Locally, Robert Rosado, 54, was charged with dressing up as an ICE agent as a ploy to pull off the June 8 robbery of a Mayfair automotive repair shop.
Legislators said the in-the-works state law would increase penalties for those falsely posing as law enforcement, incorporating mandatory minimum sentences for such instances involving violent crimes.
Officers could face civil penalties for failing to identify themselves or concealing their identities, according to the memo.
A recent Inquirer analysis of numbers from the Deportation Data Project shows that ICE arrested 650 people in the first 26 days of June in Pennsylvania, up from around 400 or fewer in the first five months of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Last week, ICE apprehended at least 14 people during a raid at a grocery store outside Norristown, and federal agents violently arrested a man outside Philadelphia’s criminal courthouse, an event captured on video by the advocacy group Juntos. Both incidents drew opposition and community concern.
The White House on Tuesday heralded reports of a nationwide surge in ICE arrests, saying in a statement that Trump is “making good on his promise to rid our communities of these threats to public safety – making sure illegal alien killers, rapists, gangbangers, and other violent criminals find no safe harbor.”
