Related to a bunch of “photos taken in downtown Los Angeles” posts that are coming up…
Even as they themselves partied unmasked at the French Laundry, the rulers of California had great success in ordering their subjects to wear masks for at least two years (school kids were the last to be freed from this requirement):
(Of course, the success was in making kids and peasants wear saliva-soaked face rags, not in preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2; young-due-to-immigration California ended up with one of the world’s highest age-adjusted COVID-tagged death rates and certainly fared no better than places such as Florida and Sweden that lacked these orders.)
Today, the Righteous of Sacramento are attempting to order the opposite, i.e., that law enforcement, including federal ICE agents, cannot wear face rags. “ICE Agents Could Be Banned From Wearing Masks Under New Proposal” (Newsweek):
California lawmakers are looking to stop local police officers and federal agents from wearing face masks or coverings while carrying out operations in the state.
The “No Secret Police Act” was introduced by Democrats in the state’s Senate on Monday, following criticism that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were trying to hide their identities while carrying out raids in Los Angeles.
“The recent federal operations in California have created an environment of profound terror. If we want the public to trust law enforcement, we cannot allow them to behave like secret police in an authoritarian state,” state Senator Scott Wiener said in a press release.
I personally agree with the idea behind this law. It’s unnerving for law enforcement to get out of unmarked vans while wearing face masks and, maybe, plain clothes. How do we know that they aren’t part of one of the migrant gangs that Democrats assure us do not exist (and of which Kilmar Armando Ábrego García was definitely not a member)? Also, the U.S. isn’t supposed to be so dangerous that an armed ICE agent and/or family can be hunted down at his/her/zir/their home. (Of course, even a state governor isn’t safe from the #FreePalestine progressives so maybe the U.S. actually is so dangerous for anyone who is engaged in an activity that a Queers for Palestine rally attendee would disagree with.)
So, much as I would like to see law enforcement work openly I wonder how a state can order the Feds to do something (or, in this case, not do something). There isn’t exactly a federal law that says ICE officers are allowed to wear face masks, but it seems seems as though the Supremacy Clause could be invoked.
If I’m wrong (as usual) and California actually can restrict what ICE agents can wear what stops California from creating a law that says ICE agents aren’t allowed to drive cars or vans in California? That ICE agents have to wear bikinis and have a BMI no higher than 22? Maybe there is a federal law that says ICE agents can detain migrants and therefore California can’t simply pass a law forbidding ICE from detaining any enrichers.
While I think this law is unenforceable, I agree that law should be carried in the open – I think all agents should have large id numbers and tamper-resistant mandatory body cams.
Good point about driving – what driving laws federal agents are supposed to follow when driving on state roads? And more broadly – can federal agents be arrested by local law enforcement for violation of state laws while on duty?
Also it’s interesting that immigration laws (and border control) are federal. Why exactly is it so? Can’t California give out California citizenship and control its own borders?
(And then we can close our borders and deny entry to Californians, lol)