Trump turns debate over masked ICE agents into a ridiculous patriotism test

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Two Democratic senators unveiled a bill to unmask ICE agents. The president responded by insisting that the lawmakers “hate our country.”

Rump's definition of Patriotism starts and ends with a salute to his mirror.

Trump turns debate over masked ICE agents into a ridiculous patriotism test www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo... via @msnbc

— Richard, Democratic activist, ❌👑 (@resist4747.bsky.social) 2025-07-11T06:53:57.968Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-turns-debate-masked-ice-agents-ridiculous-patriotism-test-rcna217961

At Donald Trump’s latest White House event, the president was asked whether he’d sign a bill to require immigration agents to do their jobs without masks. He could’ve said he’d veto such a measure, and he could’ve tried to defend the practice of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents covering their faces.

But the Republican instead responded in a deeply ugly way.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:aunpu65mdrhwfie7ynymlzeh/post/3ltkfeck7l22w

Link to tweet

Referring to Senate Democratic sponsors of a proposal on the practice, Trump said, “Well, they wouldn’t be saying that if they didn’t hate our country — and they obviously do.”....

With this in mind, two Democratic senators — New Jersey’s Cory Booker and California’s Alex Padilla — this week introduced new legislation called the Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement Act (or VISIBLE Act). The point of the bill is simple: It would, if approved, require immigration enforcement officers to display clearly visible identification, while remaining unmasked, when executing their public duties.

“When federal immigration agents show up and pull someone off the street in plainclothes with their face obscured and no visible identification, it only escalates tensions and spreads fear while shielding federal agents from basic accountability,” Padilla, whose recent history is highly relevant, said in a statement. “Immigration agents should be required to display their agency and name or badge number — just like police and other local law enforcement agencies. The VISIBLE Act’s commonsense requirements will restore transparency and ensure impersonators can’t exploit the panic and confusion caused by unidentifiable federal immigration enforcement agents.”

If the president wants to say he’d veto such a bill, fine. If he wants to make a substantive case against it, great. But when asked about the legislative effort, Trump instead argued that Booker and Padilla “hate” the United States, which is offensive and insane.

In the American tradition, law enforcement personnel have always been identifiable and unmasked. The proposal from Padilla and Booker isn’t some radical reform; it’s an endorsement of routine practices that have existed in this country for generations.

For Trump to argue that it’s somehow unpatriotic to endorse an American norm offers a peek into a deeply twisted perspective.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Doing away with due process for the political expediency of the addle brained

Is unpatriotic. My statement is true.

[peggysue2]

2. This nonsense is in Republican DNA

Remember the 9/11 anti-Muslim fervor leading to the Iraq invasion, a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks? If you weren't on board with the war, you were being unAmerican, not a patriot.

Just keeps circulating, round and round. The Mad King is riffing on a theme with an extra dose of venom.

My way or the highway.

[patphil]

3. Normal police officers in any town or city have to display a badge, or at least show one when making an arrest.

None of them routinely wear face masks. The fact that these ICE agents do is an obvious indicator that ICE knows what they are doing violates the law.

[Orrex]

4. Why doesn't he just fucking die already?

[kentuck]

5. If that is his definition of "patriotism"...

...our country is in a sad state. Uh...never mind.

[TomSlick]

6. That's Trump answer to anyone who disagrees with him, or that he just doesn't like.

[Wild blueberry]

7. This is a sensible bill

I'd go further; I'd like to know who these goons are, what their qualifications are, and what training they've taken. Uniforms, visible name and ID, and body cams. Every one, every time.
Of course, I really think we should get rid of ICE altogether. Right now, it has nothing to do with border enforcement, and everything to do with fear and intimidation. Frump's brownshirts, or Ge-ICE-stapo.

[markodochartaigh]

8. The reason that the

kkk wore hoods is so they wouldn't be identified. The parallels seem obvious.

[forgotmylogin]

9. Putting not just immigrants in danger.

As people have said - with faces masked and plain clothing or "tactical gear" and no requirement to disclose identification and credentials they're saying individuals don't have the right to fight back against someone random who dresses up like this and kidnaps them, official or not.

We teach our kids to fight back against strangers, so giving these secret ICE police carte blanche for anonymity puts everyone in danger. What's to stop a group of random dudes from masking up in tactical gear, dragging your loved one into a van (you're not allowed to ask them who they are) and raping and killing them and dumping them in a field? This sounds like the type of thing they are threatening that "criminal immigrants" can do.

We are now a third world country with secret police.

[GiqueCee]

10. That's his all-purpose go-to excuse...

... when he's cornered. Unfortunately, his brain-dead base laps it right up; ANY excuse to hate on them libs! They cannot grasp the fact that it is conservatism that checks all the boxes as a mental disorder on the sociopathy spectrum.
God, I hate that sorry excuse for a human being. The Universe will breathe a sigh of relief when he's dead. But then, Q-Anon will claim that he's been reincarnated as the back legs of Laura Loomer.

[2na fisherman]

11. KKK Redux?

Concealment of identity: The hoods and robes provided anonymity for Klansmen performing acts of violence and intimidation, allowing them to evade identification and potential prosecution.

This current ICE version has the added appearance of state-sponsored authority with the use of overwhelming military force aimed at everyone, not just people of color.
Many members of these goon squads must also wish to hide what they are doing from their family members. They know their children might hate them if they knew they were willing to commit such evil acts each day on their horrible jobs. And as employment standards are lowered for those seeking this kind of employment, only goons need apply. Then sadism becomes a common quality of the authoritarian mindset required for the job. And Stephen Miller will promote you.