“Counterattack”. Since the election of Donald Trump, Democrats, long amorphous and withdrawn, have been accused of remaining inactive in the face of the administration’s attacks on legal regulations and social programs. As the Trump administration blocked or removed geolocation applications from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, criticized for the violence of some of their operations, the Democratic Party began to react.
Among them, California Representative Rob Garcia, Democratic leader of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, proposed this week creating a “centralized ICE tracking tool” to document the actions of federal police.
“American citizens are taken off the streets by masked men and detained without access to a lawyer or even a phone call. No one, regardless of their origin or appearance, should live in fear of being imprisoned by their own government due to their ethnicity or appearance,” declared the politician, during a press conference in Los Angeles, in the presence of the city’s mayor, Karen Bass.
No real-time agent tracking
If the EyesUp and IceBlock apps were removed from various app stores and closed groups on Facebook, what would the Democratic Party’s initiative look like and, above all, how could it withstand legal pressure? According to Sara Guerrero, spokesperson for Oversight Democrats, this involves “systematically documenting abuses and civil rights violations,” without tracking the location of agents in real time. A sticking point that has already caused the elimination of other applications.
The goal here is to build a transparent public record of wrongdoing and unconstitutional acts, in order to hold the Trump administration accountable for its actions. Guerrero clarifies: “We publish reports to protect the public, law enforcement and the Constitution.”
For New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “we must make ICE’s task as difficult as possible.” “If you see them, report it,” he urged. His statement follows an ICE raid that escalated into clashes with bystanders on Tuesday, October 21, in a bustling Chinatown neighborhood. Hours later, several protesters gathered to denounce the presence of ICE in New York.
Protest on the Republican side
For their part, Republicans quickly rejected the initiative. Attorney General Pam Bondi denounced the danger faced by the agents, while the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, stated on Fox News that the agents were “objectified for having carried out a police mission.”
“Are they following the FBI and the DEA? They’re not. I wish elected officials would talk to us, see exactly who we’re arresting, and see public safety measures reversed. The men and women of ICE are being attacked for carrying out a law enforcement mission, and this is coming from elected officials, and this has to stop,” he added.
Representative Bryan Steil, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the House Administration Committee, which oversees all House websites, also said he would not allow Mr. Garcia’s tracking tool to be used on House systems. A tense climate, in short, that for the moment shows no signs of calming down.
Source: BFM TV
