WASHINGTON — Top Democrats on Wednesday seemed to soften their demand to ban masks on federal agents.
In a press conference outlining their push for changes to immigration enforcement policies at the Department of Homeland Security, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) described, for the first time, small qualifications to their “no mask” demands.
“I think there’s agreement that no masks should be deployed in an arbitrary and capricious fashion, as has been the case, horrifying the American people,” Jeffries said.
Schumer followed with a similar caveat, saying immigration authorities “need identification and no masks, except in extraordinary and unusual circumstances.”
In remarks this week, Schumer and Jeffries have been wholly dismissive of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers wearing masks.
