A new bill in Massachusetts was introduced Wednesday that would prohibit all law enforcement officers from wearing masks while working with the public.
The proposal "An Act Ensuring Law Enforcement Identification and Public Trust" was introduced by Democratic Representative James Hawkins. Another 10 Democratic state representatives co-sponsored the bill.
"A law enforcement officer shall not wear any mask or personal disguise while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties, except for medical grade masks that are surgical or N95 respirators designed to prevent the transmission of airborne diseases and masks designed to protect against exposure to smoke or toxins during a state of emergency," reads the bill.
The bill would also require law enforcement officers to include their name or badge number on their uniforms. The proposal defines the term "law enforcement officer" to mean "any officer of a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency, or any person acting on behalf of a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency."
The proposal would provide exceptions for medical masks worn by law enforcement and for masks worn by Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams during their operations. If approved, the bill would add to the Massachusetts Penal Code by making any unauthorized masking by law enforcement a misdemeanor. In Massachusetts, anyone convicted of a misdemeanor can be sentenced to pay a fine and to spend up to 30 months in jail or in a correctional facility.
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Mask-wearing by law enforcement, specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, has been a controversial issue since late May when ICE carried out one of its largest operations across Massachusetts, Operation Patriot. This year, there has been a 700% increase in assaults against ICE officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
"I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line, because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is," said ICE acting director Todd Lyons during a press conference in Boston. "Is that the issue here that we’re upset about, the masks? Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?"
In the U.S. Senate, Democrats Cory Booker and Alex Padilla introduced the "Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement" or "VISIBLE Act" earlier this week. The senators said the bill would "strengthen oversight, transparency, and accountability for the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate and alarming immigration enforcement tactics that have terrorized communities across California and the nation."
"It's sort of funny when people picket in front of Columbia, in front of Harvard, and they have masks on—more than masks," said President Trump on Wednesday. "I mean, you can't see anything. Nobody complains about that. But when a patriot who works for ICE or Border Patrol puts a mask on so that they won't recognize him and his family, so they can lead a little bit of a normal life after having worked so hard and so dangerously, there's a problem with that."
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