Anyone being detained by law enforcement in America not only deserves but is entitled to know who is detaining them and why.
So as immigration enforcement agents adopt thuggish tactics to terrorize communities in Washington state and across the country – not to mention my colleague, California's Sen. Padilla – I'm joining him and Sen. Booker in introducing a new bill requiring immigration officers to display visible identification during public operations.
The VISIBLE Act, short for the Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement Act of 2025, has three points:
Immigration enforcement officers will be required to wear clear identification for themselves and their agency, unobscured by clothes or tactical gear.
Aside from environmental hazards or covert operations, they will be banned from wearing masks, gaiters, balaclavas, or anything else that obscures their identity.
The DHS will also be required to set disciplinary procedures for violations, investigate complaints, and make annual compliance reports to Congress.
Under Trump's mass deportation agenda, we've seen unidentified masked agents indiscriminately snatch folks off the streets, from workplaces and homes, cuff them, and drive away in unmarked vans on a near-daily basis.
In turn, onlookers are left horrified, unsure whether their loved ones, neighbors, and coworkers will be seen alive again.
And without visible badges, names, or insignia, members of the public often have no way to confirm whether they are interacting with legitimate government officials – or being kidnapped by imposters.
It's unacceptable, it's unlawful, and it's un-American.
This law shouldn't even be necessary. But the Trump administration is doing everything it can to stoke terror in immigrant communities and make us all afraid to stand up to any kind of constitutional abuse. As such, commonsense measures like this are critical to saving any trust the American people may still have in their government.
Passing a law like this isn't likely in a Republican-controlled Congress, but I believe Democrats have to show that we will fight to rein in the kinds of overreach we're seeing right now.
Friend, I will always fight in the other Washington to make your voice heard in the Senate.
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