Sen. Alex Padilla met with reporters recently to discuss the The Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement (Visible Act) – legislation that would require immigration agents, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs Border Patrol (CBP) and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to have clear visible identification at all times and ban the use of nonmedical face obscuring masks.
Padilla, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced the bill that will also require agents to include their agency name or initials and either their personal name or badge number that is unobscured by tactical gear or clothing.
The lack of clear identification has increased fear in the community with armed men wearing masks, concealing their faces, driving in nondescript, oftentimes late model cars, who have, without warrants, entered homes, raided workplaces and violently pulled people off the street. It’s been nearly impossible for people to know whether these men are rogue impersonators, bounty hunters or actual federal immigration agents.
When family and community members witness loved ones, neighbors and co-workers taken away, they are given no information and don’t know who has taken them or where they are going. Oftentimes, it takes days before they can be located. Some have been deported before family can notify attorneys.
This bill comes just one month after Padilla, during a press conference held in Los Angeles by the Secretary of Homeland Security, was detained, forced to the ground and handcuffed after asking a question of the speaker.
Padilla, raised in Pacoima, an alumnus of San Fernando High School and a graduate from MIT, has been a role model of success for the Northeast San Fernando Valley community. He is the first Latino to represent California in the U.S. Senate.
He began serving in the Senate in 2021, filling the vacancy left by then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“As I said then, and I’ve been repeating it ever since, if this is how this administration responds to a United States senator who wants to ask a question, to try to shed light, try to get truth, try to get information as to what’s really going on, then we can only imagine what they’re willing to do and what they are doing to so many people in all corners of the country, but especially in Los Angeles,” said Padilla.
“We know the truth because we hear it from the people being impacted. The administration is also willing to lie about that.”
Padilla told reporters gathered by the American Community Media that in this second term of President Donald Trump’s America, the drastic cuts in the budget, massive deportations and fear-mongering are “hard to believe, but it’s true.”
“We’re also seeing a Republican Party that refuses to stand up to Donald Trump’s power grabs and the corruption that’s clearly going on.”
He also noted the media is facing increased intimidation and legal attacks.
Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” has been the major project of the current administration, cutting trillions of dollars in funding from public services in favor of massive increases in spending towards organizations like ICE and the DHS.
“Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress passed their top priority for Trump’s second term. They decided that in order to afford yet another round of massive tax breaks for the rich that working families were going to have to pay more with a trillion dollars from Medicaid being cut, kicking 17 million Americans off of their health care and rolling back the historic progress that ‘we made’ on the clean energy transition,” Padilla pointed out.
“This bill also adds an additional $170 billion to the budget for Trump’s mass deportation agenda, a ramp-up in their campaign of terror.”
Padilla said the only area of the budget that saw true investments was the DHS and ICE.
“They are setting the stage for not just a continuation, but an escalation of the cruelty of these mass detention and deportation actions,” he said.
As the mid-point for the first year of Trump’s second term, the future of the country has come into question.
“If we’re able to take back the House or the Senate or both, then congressional oversight takes on a whole new meaning,” said Padilla.
“That’s been part of the challenge this year. It’s not just what Donald Trump is doing or not doing. It’s not just his cabinet and other parts of the administration; but it’s the lack of Republicans in Congress to do their job as a separate and equal branch of government to hold this administration accountable.
“We’re doing everything we can right now, we’re also working to try to impact the midterm elections to change that dynamic.”
Petitions are currently circulating in support of the bill.