The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit Thursday to shut down Denver’s law that bars ICE and other law enforcement officers from wearing masks and requires them to display identification.
The city’s ban, adopted earlier this year, applies to all law enforcement agencies but the impetus was the backlash against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
DOJ said the law endangers officers by exposing them to threats and harassment — and it clashes with federal agencies’ rules, which under the Constitution take precedence over the city’s whims.
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“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 E. Woodward Jr. said in announcing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said ICE personnel and their families in Colorado have already faced doxxing, with one officer’s wife’s name and photograph posted to social media along with their home address.
Denver is part of a nationwide flood of laws in Democrat-led jurisdictions attempting to bar ICE personnel from wearing masks while on the job — and the city is the latest to face DOJ’s legal wrath.
The other jurisdictions have fared poorly.
Judges had blocked mask bans in California, New York, Virginia and Philadelphia, concluding that local restrictions on federal law enforcement ran afoul of the Supremacy Clause.
Cases are still pending against Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Milwaukee.
California’s law stumbled because it singled out federal agencies, but didn’t apply to state and local police.
Denver’s ban applies to all law enforcement, which the city hopes will insulate it.
But DOJ’s lawsuit said city council members made clear their intent was to target federal officers.
Denver’s ordinance also doesn’t include an exception for officers working undercover — a standard element in other jurisdictions’ bans.
Violations in Denver are punishable by a fine of $999 and up to 300 days in jail, though experts have questioned how the city would carry out enforcement.
“Federal law enforcement officers and agents cannot and will not comply with the ordinance, which is unconstitutional and recklessly disregards officer safety, public safety, and federal operational needs,” DOJ said in the lawsuit.
The laws are part of resistance to President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Democrats have compared mask-wearing ICE officers to Nazi stormtroopers, and accused them of terrorizing communities.
Federal officials, though, 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.
Wearing masks and removing identification badges or numbers also helps prevent gangs or cartels — often the target of enforcement — from tracking or retaliating against officers, DOJ said in the lawsuit.
A cottage industry has grown up around trying to identify ICE officers.
The Denver lawsuit names the city and county, Mayor Michael Johnston, City Attorney Miko Brown and police Chief Ronald Thomas.
In the lawsuit, DOJ said Mr. Johnson has criticized ICE as “the bad guys” who are putting people “in danger.”
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