In fight against ICE facemasks, Black Democrats point to history

The Democrats’ push to prohibit facemasks for federal immigration officers is a new fight with very old roots.

While Democrats have demanded the ban only in the wake of a pair of fatal shootings by masked agents in Minnesota just this year, many lawmakers are pointing to the country’s long history of racial violence as a factor that’s driving their campaign.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) — and particularly those of a certain generation — say they have haunting memories from a pre-Civil Rights era when a man in a mask was someone to fear. Now, as the parties are battling over new rules governing the conduct of federal immigration enforcers — a clash that’s shuttered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for almost seven weeks — the ban on masks has emerged as a key sticking point preventing a deal. 

It’s also a clear red line for Democrats demanding reforms.

“I grew up in a situation where I have seen masked people,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), 81, a former Black Caucus chairman. “I grew up in the South. A white guy jumps out of the car with a mask on, I mean, my first reaction is self defense.”

Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), 84, recounted similar experiences. He was reared in rural Arkansas, where masks were used, he said, only by those who didn’t want to be identified.

“And the only reason … you wouldn’t want to be identified, is that you are up to no good,” said Davis, another long-time CBC member. “People were very conservative thinking, and naturally, if you didn’t want to be identified, they thought you were going to do something you didn’t want everybody to know about.”

Davis is now a long way from Arkansas, representing parts of Chicago and Cook County. But he said the racial menace associated with masks still lingers as part of the current fight over whether DHS immigration agents — specifically those with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) —  should be allowed to wear masks during the course of their duties.

“It’s........

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