House Democrats are urging the Department of Homeland Security to mandate that immigration officials clearly identify themselves when conducting arrests. The demand comes in the wake of multiple reports of men impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to kidnap and assault women.
The Democratic Women’s Caucus demanded action in a Monday letter sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials. The letter, signed by 33 DWC members and shared exclusively with HuffPost, urges ICE agents to “visibly and clearly identify themselves when conducting immigration enforcement activities to stop enabling impersonators who leverage women’s uncertainty and fear of immigration consequences to rape, harass, and abuse them.”
“It’s just terrifying,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), an author of the letter, told HuffPost. “People cannot tell the difference between a real agent and a criminal, and that makes everyone less safe – especially immigrant women who are the most vulnerable.”
There have been at least three instances of men impersonating ICE agents in order to hurt women. A North Carolina man reportedly posed as law enforcement and threatened to deport an immigrant woman before he kidnapped and raped her. In Maryland, a man allegedly approached a Latina woman in a parking lot, flashed a fake ICE badge and told her to get into his car or face deportation. He reportedly raped the woman in his car before law enforcement was called. A New York man, allegedly posing as an ICE agent, punched a woman in broad daylight and tried to rape her before stealing her phone and purse.
“People cannot tell the difference between a real agent and a criminal, and that makes everyone less safe – especially immigrant women who are the most vulnerable.”
- Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.)
President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda has increased barbaric immigration enforcement all over the country. ICE agents are often seen conducting raids fully masked, without proper identification and wearing plain clothes — making it increasingly hard to identify who is carrying out arrests.
“All our lives, we are taught to fear masked men in unmarked vehicles,” the DWC letter reads. “We learn we should run from such men to avoid being kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or killed. Yet, ICE is increasingly conducting raids and arrests in masks, plain-clothes, without visible identification or badges, using unmarked vehicles – tactics that cause confusion, terror, and mistrust among the public.”
In the letter, Democrats use Rümeysa Öztürk’s immigration arrest as an example of how ICE arrests look more like kidnappings than anything done by legitimate law enforcement officials. Several masked agents, some in hoods and none wearing visible identification, approached Öztürk in broad daylight in March, handcuffed her and hauled her away.
Velázquez introduced the No Masks for ICE Act in June to prohibit ICE agents from covering their faces during immigration enforcement and require them to wear clothing that shows their name and affiliation with ICE.
Last month, Democratic senators from Virginia, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, introduced a similar bill that also provides protections for law enforcement officers and their families from certain threats like doxxing.
“We call on the Department to implement policies and protocols that are responsive to these serious concerns about women’s safety and law enforcement integrity to protect women from further harm,” the letter reads. “Your current practices leave women vulnerable to life-altering violence. It’s past time to act.”
Read the Democratic Women’s Caucus’ full letter below.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.