OFFICIAL DAILY ACTION FOR Monday, January 12, 2025

Washington legislators will be voting on advancing SB 5855 and HB 2173. This legislation prohibits the use of face masks

Summary from WA bills pages, both bills:

• Prohibit local, state, and federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks while interacting with the public, with certain exceptions.
• Allow a person detained by an unlawfully masked local or state officer to sue that officer in their official capacity.

From essay (see link below) “Why ICE Agents Hide Their Faces”
“The agent who wears a mask denies their responsibility to the face in front of them. They want to escape the vulnerability of obligation in order to maintain a social hierarchy: the faceless actor lording over the terrified faces of so-called migrants. The masked ICE agent offers no name. Shows no smile. Establishes only distance. They harken not the beginning of ethics, but its end.”

PLEASE SIGN IN PRO FOR THE FOLLOWING BILLS and share this information with your networks:

NOTE: Signing in for or against a bill notes your position but does not mean you have to testify.

HB 2173
Scheduled for public hearing in the House Committee on Community Safety on Tuesday, January 13th, at 4:00 pm

SB 5855
Scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Committee on Law & Justice on Tuesday, January 13th, at 8:00 AM

EASY BONUS ACTION: Sign MoveOn’s petition to unmask ICE!

BACKGROUND:
Why ICE agents hide their faces
California is banning masks for federal agents. Here’s why it could lose in court.
Older, but relevant:
Why ICE Agents Mask Themselves
New York City Bar’s Statement on Wearing of Masks by ICE Agent