Trump Admin. Sues Denver Over Mask Mandate Targeting ICE Agents
A Denver law that bans federal agents from wearing masks is in the crosshairs of the Department of Justice.
On Thursday, the Justice Department, fresh off victories over other local governments that passed similar laws, filed a lawsuit against the city and its officials, according to the Justice Department.
“Not only does this law represent an illegal attempt to regulate the Federal Government, but, as alleged in the complaint, the law threatens the safety of federal officers who are already facing an unprecedented wave of harassment, doxxing, and even violence,” a news release said.
“Threatening officers with prosecution for simply protecting their identities and their families chills the enforcement of federal law and compromises sensitive law enforcement operations,” the release said.
The release noted that governments which try to pass mask bans targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement are violating the Constitution.
“Under the U.S. Constitution, the Supremacy Clause makes clear that states and localities do not have the authority to regulate the Federal Government,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. said.
“And they certainly cannot enact laws that place the safety of federal law enforcement at risk and undermine federal operations. We will never tolerate the doxxing or harassment of federal officers, or any law like those in Denver that enable violent behavior against federal law enforcement officers and their families,” he said.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division added that “the Denver masking and identification ordinance directly regulates federal law enforcement operations and threatens severe consequences for officers and public safety alike.”
After the Denver City Council unanimously approved the ban in March, Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said fear in Denver will evaporate because of the ban on masks, according to NewsNation.
“Communities have shared with us that they’ve been afraid. They don’t know who is asking them for information because they are not identifying themselves as law enforcement,” Lewis said. “So this is huge for safety for communities.”
At the time, the Department of Homeland Security noted, “Sanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from wearing masks is despicable and a flagrant attempt to endanger our officers. To be crystal clear: we will not abide by unconstitutional bans. The Supremacy Clause makes it clear that state politicians do not control federal law enforcement.”
The lawsuit against Denver comes weeks after a federal judge threw out a New York state law that sought to ban ICE agents from wearing face coverings and would force them to wear ID to ensure the public knew who they were, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino of the Northern District of New York wrote that while the state “appears to be well-intentioned in its pursuit of transparent policing,” that is not the issue.
“The issue now before the Court is about constitutionality — not transparency or preferable policy decisions,” she wrote.
D’Agostino wrote that “face covering and identification acts directly regulate federal officers in violation of the Supremacy Clause,” according to The New York Times.
New York officials “may be correct that federal immigration officers wearing masks and not displaying viable identification creates certain dangerous situations that the face covering and identification acts remedy.”
She also wrote that “settled law establishes that federal, not state, authorities make the policies that animate the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
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