The growing national debate over whether federal immigration agents should be allowed to wear masks during dangerous enforcement actions is intensifying into a showdown between the Trump administration, Democrats and anti-ICE activists.
The news comes as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has raised concerns about the doxxing of ICE agents, as attacks on them have skyrocketed by 830% since January, the agency said.
In a new July memo, the DHS has called on the Justice Department to prosecute anyone suspected of "doxxing" ICE agents by posting agents’ photos and personal information online or in public.
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"We will prosecute those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law. These criminals are taking the side of vicious cartels and human traffickers," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is quoted in the memo. "We won’t allow it in America."
In California, a bill aimed at preventing law enforcement from covering their faces passed a key committee this week, edging it one step closer to becoming state law.
Similar bills have been introduced in Massachusetts and New York, while 21 Democrat attorneys general have also urged Congress to ban federal immigration agents from wearing masks or plainclothes during enforcement operations.
Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., two of the leading Capitol Hill critics of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, introduced legislation that would require immigration enforcement officers to clearly identify themselves without masks.
Democrats like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Congressman Lou Correa of California have also spoken out against the facial coverings.
"Only the bad guys wear masks, let's knock it off," Correa said.
There is currently no standalone federal statute that criminalizes doxxing, although if someone posts ICE agents’ personal info with the intent to harass, threaten or incite violence, it may violate the law.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R- Tenn., last month introduced the Protecting Law Enforcement from Doxxing Act, which would make doxxing federal agents a serious crime, carrying up to five years in prison and fines.
"When their name, their operation, their work is being revealed, we will make that a federal crime," Blackburn told Fox News.
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Blackburn introduced the legislation after Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, a Democrat, faced backlash for releasing a public report naming federal officers, which ultimately resulted in doxxing accusations.
There are also websites and social media accounts growing in notoriety that have the self-described missions of revealing who federal immigration agents are. Some cases go into great detail with photos, history and identifying information of federal immigration workers.
A current ICE special agent told Fox News that he was shocked to learn that he and his wife’s photos and their small town location were posted on a doxxing website recently.
"My wife is home a lot with my three kids, and she doesn't have the ability to protect herself like I do," said the agent, who asked not to be identified.
The agent’s doxxing is costing his family emotionally and financially. He said that after he puts his kids to sleep at night, he walks the perimeter of his property and is constantly worried about his family at home while he’s in the field.
"We spent close to $1,000 on additional cameras for various points of our home," the agent said.
Anti-ICE activists across the U.S. have been protesting immigration enforcement, sometimes harassing ICE agents and demanding their badge numbers and the removal of their masks.
At times, the protesters have turned violent.
ICE agents were attacked and had rocks thrown at their moving vehicles during a raid on a marijuana farm last week, while ICE agents have also come under attack outside an ICE detention facility in Portland. Law enforcement vehicles were also pelted with rocks during deportation-linked rioting in Los Angeles.
DHS accused Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., of showing a violent mob an ICE employee’s business card, prompting a mob to attack him. The official was struck by a rock and sent to the emergency room, where he received multiple stitches, DHS said.
"Brave ICE law enforcement are risking their lives every day to keep our communities safe from the worst of the worst criminals," McLaughlin said. "ICE law enforcement are succeeding to remove terrorists, murderers, pedophiles and the most depraved among us from America’s communities, even as crazed rhetoric from gutter politicians are inspiring a massive increase in assaults against them."
"It is reprehensible that our officers are facing this threat while simply doing their jobs and enforcing the law."
Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
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