Four pieces of legislation – two banning ICE officers from wearing masks, one prohibiting police officers and peace officers from enforcing federal immigration law unless the officer receives a lawful order and another requiring federal immigration enforcement agents to identify themselves as such when conducting enforcement activities – have been introduced in the state Assembly in recent days.

Assemblyman Phil Steck, D-Schenectady, is the sponsor of A.8994, legislation that would prohibit police officers and peace officers from enforcing federal immigration law unless such officer received a lawful order by an immigration judge, a United States magistrate judge or a district court judge. Under Steck’s proposal, any federal agent attempting to enforce immigration law would have to carry identification that could be produced on demand of any public officer, police officer or peace officer. Any federal agent who doesn’t produce identification could be found guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

“This bill is designed to address abuse of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but without undermining legitimate law enforcement efforts in the immigration area. Other proposals have said that only Article III Federal Court orders should be respected, not administrative court orders. However, in many other fields of law, administrative enforcement is essential, such as labor, environmental, etc.,” Steck wrote in his legislative justification.

“Deportation and asylum orders are issued by immigration judges after evidentiary hearing. New York is bound to, and should, respect those orders. On the other hand, directives that come from ICE alone without any form of administrative due process are not entitled to full faith and credit from the State of New York.”

Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-New York City, speaks during a protest of ICE enforcement raids earlier this summer.

Steck’s bill also would require a federal agent enforcing immigration law to carry identification and produce that identification at the request of a public officer, police officer, or peace officer. A standalone bill (A.8995) with the same aim has been introduced by Assemblyman Brian Cunningham, D-Brooklyn. His bill would require federal immigration enforcement agents to identify themselves as such when conducting enforcement activities.

His bill, though, goes further than Steck’s by limiting the admissibility in court of evidence obtained by ICE agents in violation of the state’s transparency laws. It would also require ICE officials to keep their faces unobscured and fully visible unless there is a specific safety threat or public health emergency. Assemblyman Nader Sayegh, D-Yonkers, has introduced his own bill (A.8943) that would prohibit ICE agents from covering their faces except for in special circumstances. His bill would state the legislature’s intent that Special Weapons and Tactics team (SWAT) officers can utilize gear necessary to protect their faces from physical harm while they perform their duties, and to enact legislation to require local, state, and federal law enforcement officers to include their name or badge number on their uniforms.

“In recent years, there have been disturbing reports of ICE agents conducting raids or arrests in New York neighborhoods while wearing masks, failing to identify themselves, or using unmarked vehicles-tactics that resemble those used by secret police forces and violate basic democratic norms,” Cunningham wrote in his legislative justification. “These covert practices instill fear, sow confusion, and erode public trust – particularly in immigrant communities. New Yorkers deserve to know who is approaching them, under what authority, and what rights they have at that moment. Law enforcement – federal, state, or local – must operate with transparency and respect for the rule of law.”

Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-New York City, is sponsoring legislation (A.8977) prohibiting bail enforcement agents from using their position to enforce immigration actions after concerns have been raised that bounty hunters could be used by ICE to find undocumented immigrants.

“Bounty hunters, or bail enforcement agents, are not government employees or law enforcement officers and should not be tasked with immigration enforcement,” Rosenthal wrote in her legislative justification. “While ICE has not admitted to employing this strategy, masked individuals in plain clothes, showing no form of identification, have approached and apprehended.people across the country in recent months.”

Assemblyman Brian Cunningham, D-Brooklyn, speaks with Assembly Majority Leader Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, on the Assembly floor earlier this year.