Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wear masks, President Donald Trump and his supporters have insisted, because if they have to show their faces, then they will be doxxed. More specifically, Republicans have argued, bystanders could take photos of agents’ faces, identify them and use that information to harm them. But after dispatching ICE to 14 major U.S. airports where unpaid Transportation Security Administration workers are quitting or calling out sick, Trump said Monday on social media that “I would greatly appreciate…NO MASKS” at the airports.
That makes no sense. Set aside the fact that ICE agents don’t have the training to do what TSA agents do; if there were a legitimate threat to ICE agents who show their faces outside airports, that threat would be just as legitimate when ICE agents were inside airports.
During the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, Democrats have demanded reforms that include requiring ICE agents to show their faces. Trump’s social media post on Monday signaled to Democrats that talk of doxxing was always a ruse and that facial coverings for ICE officers aren’t non-negotiable, as Republicans have previously insisted.
But we always knew it was a ruse.
This is a preview of Jarvis DeBerry’s latest column. Read the full column here.
