Nevada Attorney General Mimics Gov Gavin Newsom With Calls to Unmask ICE Agents

Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford and a coalition of 19 other attorneys general sent a letter to members of Congress, urging them to pass legislation “generally prohibiting federal immigration agents from wearing masks to conceal their identity and requiring them to show their identification and agency-identifying insignia.”

The hyperbolic letter reads, “The images of masked, armed men and women, dressed in plainclothes and traveling in unmarked vehicles, snatching people from streets, homes, workplaces, and courthouses has become common in recent weeks and are now emblazoned in the public consciousness. We have watched these detentions with alarm, as the imagery evokes comparisons to repressive tactics that have no place in a free country. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers’ now routine practice of carrying out arrests in public spaces through masked agents who do not identify themselves as law enforcement has the effect of terrorizing communities rather than protecting them.”

“Today, I met with Lester Hayes, Jr., Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in Las Vegas and expressed my concerns about having masked, unidentified federal agents operating in Nevada communities. We had a productive conversation around the dangers this practice presents and agreed to continue our efforts to protect both residents and law enforcement and reduce opportunities for impersonation and abuse,” said AG Ford. “I also expressed my view that masking should be limited to very special circumstances, because it undermines the importance principles of transparent governance that Americans expect. For this reason, Congress should act immediately to end these reckless tactics and implement proper accountability to federal immigration enforcement.”

Last November, AG Ford announced his office “will be a bulwark” against any effort by the Trump administration “to impose unconstitutional mandates, override our system of checks and balances, or intrude upon the rights of any Nevada resident.” His office released two “Know Your Rights” documents to inform legal and illegal immigrants and their employers of their legal rights and joined Know Your Rights seminars held by the ACLU and left-of-center nonprofits.

In his 2024 warning to the incoming Trump administration, Ford emphasized: “There is no one way to be a Nevadan. The residents of our great state -whether they’ve been here for 3 weeks or are third- generation Nevadans.”

Since ICE has began enforcing federal law under President Trump’s directive, Democrats have referred to ICE as the “gestapo,” and publicly lobbed rhetorical assaults at officers and Trump administration officials.

Since President Trump’s enforcement of federal immigration law, 1.6 million illegal aliens have self deported and another 400,000 have been removed involuntarily. The arrests of criminal illegal aliens by ICE agents have been marred by violent protests, with assaults on federal agents increasing 1000 percent. The escalation in violence is widely attributed to the increasing rhetoric from Democratic lawmakers.

Last Tuesday night, California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert repeating his verbal attacks on ICE officers, telling Colbert that arrests of illegal aliens by ICE are “authoritarian actions of an authoritarian government.”

The following morning , a deranged sniper identified by authorities as Joshua Jahn shot at an unmarked van at an ICE facility in Dallas, TX, killing two detainees before turning the gun on himself. The FBI confirmed that anti-ICE slogans were carved on rifle cartridge found at the scene and “the evidence shows an idealogical motive behind this attack.”

Last week, Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli showed “zero tolerance for direct or implicit threats against government officials” in response to Newsom’s warning on X that Secretary of Homeland Security was “going to have a bad day” after the California legislature has passed numerous Anti-ICE, pro-illegal immigration bills that Newsom proudly signed.

At the time The Globe reported:

“Standing alongside leaders of communities terrorized by Trump’s lawless raids across Southern California, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed a groundbreaking package of bills to respond to federal overreach and push back against Trump and Stephen Miller’s ‘secret police’ tactics in California,” Governor Newsom announced Saturday. “The new laws make California the first state in the nation to prohibit federal law enforcement officers, including ICE, from hiding their identities, and make it less likely that federal immigration enforcement officers target children in classrooms and patients in hospitals.”

Essaylli has since directed federal agencies to ignore Newsom’s unconstitutional legislation.

Attorney General Ford is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington– all Democrat-led states (and DC) with a significant population of illegal aliens and related criminal activity within their respective sanctuary cities.