Mike German, an ex-FBI agent, said immigration agents hiding their identities ‘highlights the illegitimacy of actions’

Some wear balaclavas. Some wear neck gators, sunglasses and hats. Some wear masks and casual clothes.

Across the country, armed federal immigration officers have increasingly hidden their identities while carrying out immigration raids, arresting protesters and roughing up prominent Democratic critics.

It’s a trend that has sparked alarm among civil rights and law enforcement experts alike.

Mike German, a former FBI agent, said officers’ widespread use of masks was unprecedented in US law enforcement and a sign of a rapidly eroding democracy. “Masking symbolizes the drift of law enforcement away from democratic controls,” he said.

  • msprout@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    You’re wrong, but, keep cooking fam. COVID is only “very low” in the US because we have pulled all funding for PCR testing, contact tracing, and wastewater level analysis. COVID didn’t go away; we just stopped caring once it got a little more tolerable, symptoms-wise.

    I wear masks still because they are PPE — PERSONAL protective equipment. I can’t trust anyone to consider me and my immunocompromised state, so, I wear a mask to try and at least protect myself. I’m not making a ‘statement’, and your notion that I am can eat my entire asshole.

    Stick to speaking about your home country. You clearly don’t understand the situation on the ground here.