WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice is suing New York over a law set to take effect this week that would bar federal agents from wearing masks, opening them up to “harassment, tracking, intimidation, and assaults.”
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate and other DOJ attorneys in the Civil Division filed the lawsuit Monday in Buffalo federal court, alleging that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tucked the unconstitutional law into the state’s annual budget.
“Governor Hochul cannot tell Federal officers how to do their job,” Woodward said. “And she certainly cannot prohibit them from ensuring their own safety in conducting Federal law enforcement operations.”
The suit, which also names New York Attorney General Letitia James, claims that the Face Covering and Identification Acts “violate the principles of intergovernmental immunity and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” according to the 40-page filing, which notes that the law is set to take effect June 26.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, DEA agents and others would then be subject “to criminal penalties” for wearing masks.
Other provisions in the Empire State budget also run afoul of federal law by requiring local governments to terminate enforcement agreements with the feds, the lawsuit contends.
“The need to protect Special Agents’ identities and association with DEA is not confined to activities which would compromise that particular investigation; rather, the exposure of Special Agents’ identities and association with DEA even in an overt DEA operation could enable suspects to identify those agents who become involved in future undercover operations, which would obstruct those future actions,” the suit states.
“Increasingly, members of the public photograph, film, and publish federal enforcement actions online and include the personal identities of federal officers for the sole purpose of intimidation and harassment,” it also notes.
That information can be used by “rioters, illegal aliens and “highly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13,” among others, according to the DOJ officials.
“The Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the privacy and safety of law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like New York’s,” said Shumate.
The DOJ has already filed suits in California, Virginia, and New Jersey — as well as the city of Philadelphia — against laws forcing agents to go maskless. All of the jurisdictions impose “sanctuary” policies that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
“If California and New York can impose these requirements, there’s nothing that prevents them from, you know, in the next session saying, ‘Federal agents can’t even use marked cars,’” a DOJ official told The Post
“This is a troubling new trend that started in California and other sanctuary jurisdictions are trying to follow the same lead of passing bills that target federal law enforcement officers directly and attempt to directly regulate how they do their jobs by banning masks and requiring federal agents to wear identification,” the official also said.
“That puts agents’ lives at risk, and so we’re prioritizing these cases and filing lawsuits as quickly as we can,” the official added.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed her state’s version of the law in March, saying in a statement: “We’re not going to tolerate masked roving militias pretending, pretending to be well-trained law enforcement agents.”
In April, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals blocked California from implementing its version of the law, but the official indicated that if another circuit court rules against the administration, it could prompt an appeal to the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute.
Reps for Hochul and James’ offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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