The Department of Justice announced Thursday a lawsuit against Maryland and two of its counties, Montgomery and Prince George’s, over new laws that seek to bar ICE agents from wearing masks while they carry out their duties.
Trying to regulate federal law enforcement tactics violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, the federal lawyers argued.
They’ve prevailed, at least preliminarily, in similar cases against Virginia, California, New York and Philadelphia.
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Now they hope to add Maryland to that list.
“The Federal Government, not state and local governments, gets to decide which equipment federal officers may or may not wear when performing their official duties,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate.
Government lawyers said senior state officials knew they were trodding on iffy ground when the Legislature passed its law. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, even told the governor in a letter that there was a “high likelihood” the courts would find the law unconstitutional.
Lawyers for both counties raised similar warnings.
The Washington Times has sought comment from the three jurisdictions for this story.
Maryland’s law, SB-1, bans facial coverings for law enforcement officers at all levels, including the feds, and requires them to identify themselves while on duty in the state. Officers face a $1,500 civil penalty and a finding of “police misconduct.”
Officers working undercover are exempt.
Those who crafted the policies made clear they were targeting the federal government.
The changes came as part of growing resistance to President Trump’s mass deportation campaign and reports of aggressive tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Federal officials say ICE personnel have been forced to wear masks to escape being targeted by unruly opponents who have released their personal information and, in some cases, violently confronted them.
A cottage industry has grown up around trying to identify ICE officers.
In the lawsuit, the Justice Department said the spouse of an ICE deportation officer who works in the Salisbury suboffice had her business social media profile doxed, accompanied by comments such as “you’re both going to burn in hell.”
“Protecting officers’ personal identities is particularly important during high-risk enforcement operations involving individuals with violent criminal histories or gang affiliations, transnational criminal organizations, and known or suspected terrorists,” the government said in its lawsuit.
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