L.A. County to weigh law enforcement mask ban

Los Angeles County supervisors plan to vote soon on an ordinance that would prohibit law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, from wearing masks or disguising their identities while conducting operations in unincorporated L.A. County, probably setting up a legal battle with the Trump administration.

- BY MELISSA GOMEZ

COMMUNITY members surround masked immigration agents in Bell in June.

(GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times)

On Tuesday, L.A. County supervisors Janice Hahn and Lindsey P. Horvath will introduce the ordinance for a vote. The ordinance would also require law enforcement officers, including local, state and federal, to wear identification and make clear their agency affiliation.

Since immigration agents began raiding Los Angeles neighborhoods and worksites in June, many local leaders have pushed for action on the issue. Residents are concerned about the agents, often disguised with face coverings and masks. The masks and lack of identification have sowed fears the armed men could be people posing as law enforcement officers. Residents have called on sheriff's deputies and police for help, only to be told that local agencies do not interfere with federal operations.

If the ordinance is approved, it will — per county policy — go again before supervisors for a second vote, scheduled for Dec. 9. It would then go into effect 30 days later. But legal experts have cast doubt that federal agents would be required to follow the ordinance, and federal officials have already issued a legal challenge to similar state-level legislation.

L.A. County counsel Dawyn R. Harrison told the supervisors the ordinance “would most likely be challenged on the supremacy clause,” which holds that federal law supersedes state and local law.