

House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has lashed out at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, threatening to publicly identify “every single ICE agent” taking part in the crackdown on illegal immigration.
At a Tuesday press briefing, Jeffries was asked about ICE officials wearing masks during enforcement actions due to people posting their photos online and making death threats to their families.
Jeffries responded that “Every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will, of course, be identified.”
Jeffries accused ICE personnel of engaging in “aggressive overreach” and of “trying to hide their identities from the American people.”
The House Minority Leader promised those agents that they would “be unsuccessful” and proclaimed, “This is the United States. We’re not the Soviet Union, we’re not behind the Iron Curtain.”
Jeffries couched his remarks in the American people’s need for “transparency” that’s necessary in order to “hold people accountable when their folks cross the line.”
The congressman’s outrage stems, in part, from an incident in which federal agents detained and handcuffed an aide to Rep. Jerry Nadler during a raid on Nadler’s Manhattan office last week.
When asked about the altercation, during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Jeffries promised, “We will respond in a time, place, and manner of our choosing… it will be continuous and it will meet the moment.”
Democrats have been at the center of several high profile clashes with law enforcement over the past few weeks, including one where Rep. Lamonica McIver (D-NJ) was later hit with a criminal complaint for assault on federal agents following a scuffle with federal agents at an ICE detention center.
Reportedly, McIver was trying to prevent the arrest of Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka at the facility.
Jeffries threat to publicly identify ICE agents comes at a time when there has been a notable increase in violence and threats against those enforcing immigration law.