A Democratic state legislator plans to introduce a bill requiring law enforcement — including the thousands of federal agents working in Minnesota — to show their faces on the job.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, said she does not expect federal agents would comply with any such state law, but hoped local police would see that face coverings are corroding the public’s faith in law enforcement.
“It’s critical in Minnesota that we have trust in law enforcement,” Port said, especially after the reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd. “Many local police departments have said what we’re seeing now from federal agents is destroying that trust that we have worked hard to build back.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says ICE agents wear masks to prevent protesters identifying them and publishing information such as their names and home addresses online.
Separately, city attorneys in St. Paul are drafting restrictions on law enforcement wearing masks. The City Council held an initial public discussion Wednesday morning on how to move forward with new laws.
St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker said language around federal agents’ masks will be part of an expanded separation ordinance, which will further limit how St. Paul police can be involved in federal immigration enforcement.
A new Minneapolis separation ordinance, passed in December, does not ban masks, but states that city police working with “federal agents who lack clear agency identification and/or who are masked or otherwise concealing their identities or badges would be contrary to the values of the city and harmful to the trust and public safety of city residents.”
Critics: Masked agents hinder accountability
Activists yearn for federal agents in the Twin Cities to be held accountable for their violent tactics, especially since the killing of Renee Good. But the agents’ practice of covering their faces has made it harder to distinguish agents from each other.
