Ulster residents, activists implore lawmakers to ban masks for law enforcement, including ICE

KINGSTON, N.Y. — More than two dozen speakers from across the county on Tuesday implored lawmakers to pass legislation that would bar law enforcement officials — including Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials — from hiding their identity behind masks during police actions.

Most of the 26 speakers at the public hearing before the county Legislature were affiliated with immigrant rights and other area activist groups. All of them urged legislators to pass a local law, saying that allowing masked men to roam the streets terrorizes the community, leads to a distrust of law enforcement and opens the door for impersonators to kidnap people to feed the human trafficking pipeline.

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“This is the minimum we that we demand of law enforcement in exchange for the immense power that they wield, and it is immense — the power to control our physical bodies, the power to carry deadly weapons, to accuse us of crimes,” said Elliott Smith, a member of For The Many.

He said allowing individuals to identify who police are “is where accountability begins.”

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Corinne Donly, a Kingston resident and member of For The Many, said allowing enforcement agents to shield their identities creates a climate of fear within the community, allows law enforcement “to wield power in unlawful and dangerous ways and it makes it much easier for people to impersonate officers.”