The question Republicans still don't know how to answer: Why should ICE agents wear masks? [View all]

Every day, in communities nationwide, police officers do their jobs with a high degree of transparency: The public can see the officers’ faces, badge numbers, rank and, in most instances, even their surnames featured on uniforms. Though many cops are forced to deal with threats and violence, there isn’t a police department in the United States that allows officers to wear masks or hide their identities while they carry out day-to-day duties.

Indeed, that’s the American norm across agencies, departments and jurisdictions. State troopers don’t wear masks. Neither do FBI agents. U.S. marshals don’t wear masks; sheriffs don’t wear masks; judges and prosecutors don’t wear masks; and Secret Service agents don’t wear masks.

But federal immigration agents, most notably Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, have spent much of the past year operating under a unique standard.

Much of the public is not on board with this. The latest national poll from Quinnipiac University, for example, found that 61% of Americans believe ICE agents should not be permitted to wear masks or other face coverings.

By and large, Republican policymakers don’t seem to care, though they keep struggling with the same obvious question: Why should ICE agents have the kind of secrecy that’s at odds with the American tradition, Americans’ attitudes and the standards of every other person who works in American law enforcement?

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/the-question-republicans-still-dont-know-how-to-answer-why-should-ice-agents-wear-masks

Exactly!