Lou Correa loves going to Home Depot.
The U.S. Congressman from Santa Ana calls it his toy store.
Yet these days, he has second thoughts about going.
With the National Guard maintaining a visible presence in downtown Santa Ana over the past month alongside increased ICE sweeps, there’s heightened apprehension in the air for residents like Correa.
On any given Saturday, when Correa dresses down to wander the aisles looking for tools, he wonders whether he might risk getting caught up in an ICE sweep in the parking lot, given his Mexican American background and how he looks in a regular T-shirt and jeans.
“We need to bring attention to this issue,” Correa told me in response to mounting questions about Orange County’s disappeared residents and his recent efforts to introduce legislation ending the practice of federal agents wearing masks and uniforms without clear badging.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security, in response to our repeated requests for comment, have generally said they know who they are targeting.
“DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted. We do our due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement officers are trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability,” read an emailed response to questions earlier this month.
But local immigration advocates say ICE is targeting working people with no criminal records – raiding places like car washes, Home Depots, restaurants and swap meets.
DHS officials also have said in the past they support agents using masks as a way to protect them and their families from retaliation based on their efforts while on the job.
Yet Correa – along with a growing contingent of officials across Southern California – has become intensely concerned about recent ICE tactics during sweeps across the Southland.
Federal agents have been wearing masks over their faces while donning seemingly makeshift uniforms, without identifiable badges, much less any kind of identifying information.
Correa worries what he might do if some sort of unidentified agent attempted to force him into a van – an experience he has had constituents relay.
Regardless of one’s views on immigration enforcement, having masked agents without badges roaming U.S. streets sequestering residents seems not only unjust but ultimately dangerous to public safety and deeply un-American.
“Having federal officers with masks in our community is not productive,” Correa said. “It’s dangerous. Police don’t drive in our communities with masks on, Sheriff’s don’t drive around with masks on. Firefighters don’t drive around with masks on.
These are federal agents. What are they afraid of?”
Correa and others see this kind of approach to law enforcement as a powderkeg.
At their 5:30 pm. meeting tonight, Santa Ana city council members are expected to debate implementing a host of proposals aimed at increasing transparency and aid networks around immigration sweeps – including ICE masks.
One initiative in particular would direct city staff to draft an ordinance mandating all law enforcement officers to wear visible identification as well as prohibit them from wearing masks when interacting with residents, at the request of Councilwoman Jessie Lopez.
“How am I supposed to know who’s pulling me over?” Correa said.
Correa this past week also introduced federal legislation to halt the practice.
Working with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Correa has introduced the No Secret Police Act, which would require law enforcement officers and agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) working on immigration sweeps to wear identification and insignia when detaining or arresting individuals.
It would also ban the use of home-made, non-tactical masks.
Correa’s stand-alone legislation comes just as several other legislators offered amendments to budget bills calling for more disclosure of federal agents in local communities.
“The commonsense solution is that federal officers must display their badge number and last name,” said Congressman Mike Levin in response to my questions.
“I recently supported an effort in the House Appropriations Committee to require just this,” Levin added. “While the initial effort was blocked by House Republicans, I’m working with colleagues to get this policy across the finish line. Law enforcement officials at the state and local levels already have various policies in place requiring identification, and we should require the same of federal officers.”
There’s also ongoing legislation (SB 627) in the California State Senate–- sponsored by Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguin (D-Berkeley) – and also dubbed the “No Secret Police Act,” which would prohibit law enforcement at all levels from covering their faces while conducting operations in the state of California.
Correa said he is also part of an effort by legislators to write the Trump Administration demanding to know the backgrounds of these federal agents enforcing immigration laws on their own.
“We want to know who these individuals are,” Correa said, noting there are community rumors that the agents doing the sweeps are contractors, members of the Proud Boys organization or bounty hunters.
Noting that the officers act like they have “the supreme right to detain,” Correa said he questions their training and tactics, things like gang tackles and use of force.
“I’ve been around ICE officers,” Correa said. “I have never seen them behave that way.
I don’t know if those guys are ICE or another department or agency,” Correa said, “or Proud Boys they just deputized, gave them a badge and said go kick ass.”