FBI Says Criminals Are Impersonating ICE Agents, Asks Agents To ID Themselves

In news that’s shocking to absolutely no one, the FBI posted a bulletin last month asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to begin identifying themselves when asked. Why, you ask? It’s just a simple matter of criminals exploiting ICE agents’ refusal to identify themselves to commit robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults. 

Who on Earth could’ve seen that coming? 

According to Wired, the FBI’s bulletin asks ICE agents to verify their identity whenever asked by civilians to increase trust in law enforcement. “Ensure law enforcement personnel adequality [sic] identify themselves during operations and cooperate with individuals who request further verification,” it says. The bulletin adds that there have been at least five incidents this year of criminals impersonating ICE agents. 

In New York, a group of men who said they were ICE agents entered a restaurant, tied up the owner, and placed a trash bag over his head before robbing an ATM. Two women in Brooklyn and North Carolina report being sexually assaulted by men pretending to be ICE agents. 

From Wired:

The FBI describes a few signs of impersonation: forged or mismatched credentials, outdated protective gear, and cloned vehicle markings. It’s urging agencies to launch outreach programs aimed at identifying fake ICE agents, a step the FBI argues could counteract the mistrust caused by impersonators and strengthen law enforcement’s image.

A senior ICE official tells WIRED: “Anyone caught impersonating themselves as a federal immigration agent will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Impersonating a federal immigration officer endangers public safety and erodes trust in law enforcement.”

Federal rules require immigration officers to identify themselves and state the reason for an arrest “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so.” The standard has not changed since it was codified in the 1990s, yet advocates say it is increasingly ignored. 

You know what else erodes trust in law enforcement? Wearing face masks, raiding schools, detaining children beyond legal limits, and refusing to identify who you are. ICE’s tactics, particularly the use of face masks by ICE agents, have come under intense scrutiny this year amid the Trump administration’s draconian immigration crackdown. In Chicago, a judge has limited ICE’s use of blank warrants and ordered that they must wear body cameras while on duty. California passed a law in September banning ICE from wearing face masks during operations except when necessary. 

“Perceptions of police legitimacy are absolutely undermined when law enforcement is carried out by masked officers. But importantly, so is public safety,” Barry Friedman, faculty director of the Policing Project at NYU School of Law, told Wired. “Perceptions of legitimacy and public safety both require that community members trust the agencies tasked with protecting them. That’s all but impossible when officers are deliberately concealing their identities from the public.”

ICE officials have repeatedly defended the use of face masks as necessary for their agents’ safety. The Department of Homeland Security has run with a narrative that ICE agents are under attack, despite data consistently showing that’s not true. “They wear masks at times to protect their identities from dangerous situations. The leadership teams, we leave that up to them to discern what’s necessary,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a recent news conference. 

While the Trump administration initially said that the ICE raids would focus on undocumented individuals who have a criminal record, data has revealed that the majority of people arrested by ICE this year have no criminal history. The use of face masks and the indiscriminate nature of these arrests have made it incredibly easy for criminals to attack some of America’s most vulnerable communities. 

Instead of making America safe, ICE has made it easier for the criminals they claim to be so concerned about to exploit their tactics. I guess this is what happens when you try to make a Temu Gestapo. 

SEE ALSO:

Federal Judge Rules ICE Must Wear Body Cameras In Chicago

Los Angeles County Declares State Of Emergency Due To ICE Raids