(The Center Square) – The growing debate about whether federal immigration agents should wear masks found a spotlight in Philadelphia on Thursday, where Democratic lawmakers spoke in support of a bill that would prohibit law enforcement officers from concealing their identities.
Sens. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia, and Amanda Cappelletti, D-Norristown, joined the city’s District Attorney Larry Krasner, local House Reps. Joe Hohenstein and Rick Krajewski, and leaders from several community organizations to speak about the impact of the recent actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the commonwealth.
The lawmakers argue that when officers aren’t clearly identifiable, things are less safe for both them and the people they serve. A lack of clarity and consistency has created an environment ripe for bad actors to impersonate officers, leaving civilians uncertain when raids occur or warrants are served.
“We have two cases of a type I have never seen before in Philadelphia, and I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years,” said Krasner. “Those are cases in which people who are not ICE agents impersonate ICE agents to carry out really serious crimes, one of them with a lengthy criminal record.”
The use of masks and plainclothes, ICE defenders say, is necessary due to the backlash against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns. Americans have fought back against the agency, sometimes physically assaulting agents and, in several instances, forcing them to leave an area. The most dramatic scenes have unfolded in places like Los Angeles, where protests led President Donald Trump to mobilize the National Guard.
Hohenstein, who spent his career as an immigration lawyer before being elected to the House, said that today’s ICE practices are fundamentally unlike those of the past.
“Many number of times that I came in with clients reporting to their ICE officers right here, and the treatment that they received was often not fantastic, but there was at least a level of human dignity that is completely absent from the fear and gestapo-type tactics that we are seeing,” he said.
Local organizers echoed Hohenstein’s observation about the shift in ICE’s approach toward immigrants.
“I have been an organizer for half of my life,” said Erika Guadalupe, executive director of advocacy group Juntos. “In recent months, I have witnessed things that I did not think were possible, that shock even me. ICE is operating with no oversight, emboldened by a fascist agenda, and with resources and funding on the scale of entire armies.”
Many who oppose the new immigration strategy say they anticipate an even more intense use of the agency as funding increases included in July’s congressional budget bill come into full effect. ICE is expected to receive about $75 billion in additional funding through 2029, including $45 billion for new detention centers.
Others maintain that the administration’s actions have nothing to do with law and order but serve a far more sinister agenda, driven by racial ideology.
“To lie that these raids are done to secure public safety becomes so absurd that the only people they are deluding are themselves, and the lies contradict themselves,” said Krajewski. “They say immigrants are lazy, but they’re also apparently taking all of the jobs. They say immigrants belong to violent cartels. When’s the last time you saw a violent cartel at a Home Depot? However, we all see the absurdity of these lies, and we know the truth—that America’s entire existence has been built off the backs of immigrant labor.”
Danny Bauder, president of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, said that he’s seen ICE recruitment ads that “used the same language that white supremacist groups have been using for decades” as they “try to remove as many non-white people from this country as they can before anyone with a conscience can organize a real resistance to it.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has dismissed claims that ICE arrests are racially motivated, telling reporters, “That has been another false narrative that has been put out there in the media that I absolutely want to throw back at you and say that is absolutely false. And don’t you dare ever say that again. We have judges out there and other individuals saying people have been targeted that way, and it’s not true.”
Across Pennsylvania, raids have shaken communities, including Cappelletti’s Norristown district where she says 14 individuals were taken from their work at a grocery store “without warning or warrant.” Agents were dressed in masks and full tactical gear
Detention and deportation aren’t the only consequences of being picked up by ICE. A 32-year-old Chinese immigrant named Chaofeng Ge detained in Dauphin County recently died by suicide while in ICE custody, the agency said. Reports from Venezuelans released from CECOT in El Salvador contain brutal accounts of torture. Even five years ago, U.S. ICE facilities were accused of forced sterilization of female detainees.
Krajewski and Hohenstein are among a group of House Democrats who have proposed a companion bill to the one introduced by Cappelletti and Saval last month. Krajewski noted strong support for the legislation across the party at both levels, while Krasner pointed out similar legislation across the country. Most recently, California, New York, and Massachusetts have introduced similar legislation, as have Democratic members of Congress.
