These guys were masked, too!
The Ku Klux Klan wanted to make America “white” again — their kind of white — no Blacks, Jews, Catholics, or non-European immigrants. Sound familiar?
They wore masks to instill fear! They also wore masks because they knew what they were doing was illegal — against the rule of law and they didn’t want their friends and neighbors to know about what they did at night (but, in their belief system, necessary to keep America white).
In a free society police don’t wear masks. They are to be identifiable and wear a badge with a number and a name tag.
They identify themselves and honor the rule of law and basic human rights. Masked police officers are unacceptable in a free society. Period.
And we need to resist and protest that immigration enforcement officers (ICE) who are calling and identifying themselves as “police.” They are not.
Police ascribe, swear to, and are required by department rules to follow the “Policing Code of Ethics.”
Do ICE officers? I think you know the answer.
Local police should not aid or abet the enforcement of federal immigration rules unless it involves criminal activity and then only if the person is charged with that crime and is able to get legal assistance.
Why? Because millions of non-violent immigrants seeking asylum and citizenship in our nation would be without protection and assistance from their local police.
Here’s one bad example of ICE enforcement. There are far too many happening every day.
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 
Cops violated their own policies by hiding or not showing their badges, name tags, and their faces. In addition, you don’t see the NRA, the 2nd Amendment people and right wing milita people getting their guns to stop these ICE raids. You wonder how many of the people in these groups who knowingly hire illegal immigrants while complaining about illegal immigrations?
LikeLike
David, in the spirit of continuing the conversation, I want to take the opportunity to offer my thoughts in response to your recent post. Equating or comparing ICE officers to the Ku Klux Klan is offensive and just plain wrong. I have followed your columns for many years and find myself agreeing sometimes and not agreeing sometimes. Concerning this posting I could not disagree more. I, like you, spent 40 years in law enforcement in two of the largest cities in the country–eleven of those as a Chief. I remain involved in contemporary law enforcement in several supportive ways. Unless you experience the horror of the threat of the criminal gangs that have been allowed to enter our country and commit unspeakable atrocities on our citizens you cannot appreciate why ICE officers are compelled to protect their families and themselves by masking their identities while in public. The ICE officers are not rounding up, cooks, gardeners or service workers. They are confronting a menace perpetrating unspeakable horrors on innocent people. There was a twisted purpose in the deliberate campaign to allow these criminals to cross our borders and invade our cities. The real criticism should be directed at those who violated the trust placed in them and permitted this situation not the ones trying to return public safety to those communities under siege. I applaud the brave ICE agents who are risking their personal safety to restore sanity and public safety to everyone–including many who are undocumented and are also being victimized. We need to support and protect them and their families from retaliation. Referring to them as racist agents only further emboldens the gangs that some have welcomed into our communities. Unfortunately, there is a faction in our communities that look for ways to justify their anti-police sentiments–and positions like the one you have taken only supports their seditious intentions. Using “one bad example” to justify condemning all ICE Agents is intellectually dishonest and no different than using one incident to condemn all police officers. Respectfully, Lorne Kramer CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail transmission is information belonging to the sender and for the use of the intended recipient, and it may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. The sender intends to preserve confidentiality. If you are not the intended recipient, your use or distribution of this transmission is STRICTLY PROHIBITED, and you are requested to immediately notify the sender by return e-mail and delete the original transmission without reading or saving in any manner. Thank you.
LikeLike
Okay. I get it. The main point I wanted to emphatically make was the grave danger of masking and other effect to block one’s identity as a police officer in our society. I would also add that as long as ICE officers are helping us arrest criminals in our communities I do support them — but I sense and see that is not the case. And to round up millions of undocumented citizens almost Klan-like in how they generated fear among those who were not like them – Blacks, Jews, Catholics and non-European immigrants. Thanks for commenting and, yes, I drifted toward some hyperbole in this blog post!
LikeLike