Political brawl erupts in New Jersey over ICE crackdowns and tactics

🔴 New Jersey Democrats push new immigration bills.

🔴 Proposed laws target arrests at Homeland Security offices and hidden license plates.

🔴 Mask bans and doxing fears fuel heated debate in Trenton.

Federal lawmakers from New Jersey are trying to crack down on more tactics that immigration officers use to make arrests, and Republicans are blasting the proposals as unsafe.

This week, two New Jersey congresswomen have introduced legislation to restrict officers with Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If passed and signed by President Donald Trump, their federal bills would affect all immigration enforcement.

Also this week, a third congresswoman from New Jersey turned heads by calling for the abolition of ICE during a Homeland Security Committee hearing in which she also asked ICE Director Todd Lyons whether he thought he would go to hell.

Bill would ban ICE arrests at Homeland Security field offices

One bill would stop the arrest of anyone arriving or leaving a Homeland Security field office for immigration review. U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J. 12th District, introduced the Fundamental Immigration Fairness Act on Tuesday.

“Immigrants attempting to follow immigration laws should not be punished for their good faith efforts,” Watson Coleman said. She said that arresting immigrants attending their court hearings and appointments encourages them to stay in the shadows.

PLATE Act targets hidden license plates on ICE vehicles

Another bill would ban federal immigration officers from hiding or manipulating license plates on their vehicles. It was introduced on Monday by U.S. Rep. Nelli Pou, D-N.J. 9th District. She calls it the Protecting License-plate Access for Transparency and Enforcement Act, or PLATE Act.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Neom, Pou wrote that officers "have been evading state transportation laws by removing, exchanging, or misusing license plates." Pou, the first Latina from New Jersey elected to the House, said ICE officers were doing this to protect themselves from public scrutiny.

Each state has laws for vehicles on its roads. In New Jersey, license plates must be clean and visible from at least 50 feet away. There is a $100 fine for obscuring or covering any lettering on the license plate. There are similar laws in other states, such as New York, California, and Illinois.

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According to ICE guidelines, "all ICE owned, or leased motor vehicles must display DHS or GSA license plates unless exempted."

And federal law gives many exemptions for law enforcement vehicles. Homeland Security officers can submit internal requests for exemptions to remove license plates, and it's not clear how often those are denied, NPR reported.

 RELATED: ICE agent fires at vehicle coming at him in Roxbury arrest, feds say

Mask ban debate, doxing fears and Republican backlash

Last week, a bill in the New Jersey State Legislature to ban ICE agents from wearing masks gained support from anti-Trump Republican state Sen. Jon Bramnick. He said that the public should be able to see the faces of whoever is wielding the power of the federal government.

But Assemblyman Alex Sauickie, R-Ocean, said the mask ban was "performative theater" that conflicted with federal law and put officers' safety at risk.

“We should be protecting law enforcement, not passing policies that make their jobs more dangerous," Sauickie said.

On an FAQ page, Homeland Security says that federal immigration officers "wear masks to prevent doxing," which is when an individual's personal information is published online for malicious purposes like harassment.

The Philadelphia Inquirer calls doxing a "form of vigilanteism." On Feb. 1, Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Joe Fetterman said to Fox News that anti-ICE groups online are "organizing" to publish officers' names and target their families.

Homeland Security officials said last month that ICE officers and their families have faced an 8,000% increase in death threats. That surge has come amid the recent deaths of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti, who were both shot last month by ICE and Border Patrol officers.

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