NEW YORK: New York&rsquo;s governor on Thursday ordered federal immigration agents operating in her state to not wear masks, a move likely to be challenged by President Donald Trump&rsquo;s administration after courts overturned a similar effort in California. Since the beginning of Trump&rsquo;s controversial mass deportation campaign, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have typically covered their faces, officially to avoid being identified and potentially threatened outside of work. &ldquo;For ICE, wearing masks without good cause is nothing short of an intimidation tactic, a cowardly attempt to evade responsibility,&rdquo; New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a leading Democrat opponent of Trump and his immigration policies, said Thursday. Images of heavily armed, masked, plainclothes officers marauding around US cities including Minneapolis brutalizing citizens and non-citizens alike garnered international attention earlier this year, peaking when ICE officers shot dead two Americans in the Midwestern city. As well as the restriction on face coverings, Hochul announced that ICE agents would no longer be permitted to enter schools, libraries, community centers, polling sites, and other sensitive locations without a judicial warrant. She also forbade local police from cooperating with the agency in any operation conducted solely on immigration grounds. &ldquo;Our officers, paid for by local taxpayer dollars, were hired to protect their communities...they&rsquo;re not there to do the federal government&rsquo;s bidding,&rdquo; the governor added. Trump&rsquo;s immigration pointman Tom Homan recently warned that &ldquo;what&rsquo;s going to happen with places like New York, and (if) people pass ridiculous legislation not to work with us, we&rsquo;re going to flood the zone.&rdquo; A law passed by California&rsquo;s legislature requiring federal agents to show their faces was blocked by a district court earlier this year, with an appellate court later also ruling against the measure.

Americas

Governor Kathy Hochul restricts ICE agents from accessing sensitive locations without warrants and bars local police from assisting in immigration raids as tensions with Donald Trump escalate nationwide.

New York governor orders US immigration agents to unmask

LOS ANGELES: An elderly US man who was body slammed to the ground as immigration agents raided his Los Angeles car wash said Thursday he is lodging a $50 million damages claim against the government. Surveillance video shows Rafie Shouhed being violently manhandled by several masked and heavily armed agents, who then took him into custody where he says he was held for nearly 12 hours without medical attention. &lsquo;I was begging (them)&rsquo;&quot;The way they treated me, the way they attacked me. I was begging (them), &#39;I have a heart condition.&#39;&quot; Shouhed told reporters. Shouhed said he had gone out to speak to the men to find out what was happening. &quot;They told me nothing. The only word they say: &#39;You do not f... with ICE,&#39;&quot; said Shouhed, who moved to the United States from Iran in the 1980s. ICE refers to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The raid on Shouhed&#39;s car wash this month was part of President Donald Trump&#39;s ramped-up program against undocumented migrants as he looks to fulfill an election pledge to deport millions of people. The raids have been controversial, particularly in multiethnic Los Angeles, in part because they appear to target people simply because they speak Spanish or are working at locations like car washes. &lsquo;I cannot breathe&rsquo;Video shows three masked men pinning Shouhed to the ground, with one of them appearing to put a knee on his neck. The 79-year-old said he told agents &quot;I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe.&quot; Attorneys acting for Shouhed said their client&#39;s pleas, including his explanation that he had recently undergone heart surgery, were ignored. &quot;He was held nearly 12 hours without medical attention. Even after agents admitted they knew he was a US citizen, he was kept in custody,&quot; the claim says. Shouhed, a Trump voter, was released without charge. He was later treated in hospital for broken ribs, serious elbow injuries and traumatic brain injury, lawyers said. The legal claim is a precursor to a lawsuit. &#39;Cooperative&#39;A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told AFP the September 9 raid had resulted in the arrest of &quot;five illegal aliens from Guatemala and Mexico who broke our nation&#39;s immigration laws, including one who was removed from the country twice in 2015.&quot; &quot;The owner of Valley Car Wash, a US citizen, impeded the operation and was arrested for assaulting and impeding a federal officer.&quot; Shouhed&#39;s lawyer, Jim Desimone, said surveillance video showed that his client had been co-operative. &quot;How many more people have to be seriously injured or die before we have a change in the way these ICE officers are... using brutal force first and asking questions later?&quot;

A 79-year-old US citizen is seeking $50 million in damages after being violently arrested by ICE agents during a raid, despite his medical pleas and citizenship; he suffered serious injuries.

Articles tagged with "violent ICE arrest"

New York governor orders US immigration agents to unmask

US citizen claims $50 million over violent ICE arrest