“Spineless creeps”: ICE lawyers are hiding their names in court
People working for U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement aren t just hiding their faces on the streets of American cities They re also remaining anonymous in court According to a new document from The Intercept judges are declining to identify attorneys working for ICE during deportation proceedings spurred on by the agency At one hearing the oulet noted that the judge stated her own name the name of the immigrants facing deportation and the name of their attorneys but failed to identify the ICE attorney We re not really doing names publicly an immigration judge in New York City ShaSha Xu mentioned during a hearing in June Xu cited privacy as a justification adding that things lately have changed Attorneys and legal experts are baffled by the move Attorney Kenneth White reported he d worked as a prosecutor in cases against white supremacists and street gang members and never felt the need to hide who he was This is not the act of a legitimate executive White wrote on BlueSky What s with these spineless creeps Related Texas floods show that Trump s America is a cold hard place Elissa Steglich a law professor and co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin advised The Intercept that concealing identities in the courtroom is an oddity I ve never heard of someone in open court not being identified Steglich explained Part of the court s ethical obligation is transparency including clear identification of the parties Not identifying an attorney for the authorities means if there are unethical or professional concerns regarding the Department of Homeland Safety the individual cannot be held accountable And it makes the judge appear partial to the ruling body Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Class Identity concealment might be odd in court but it s becoming commonplace throughout ICE Across the country ICE agents have been masking up during raids and at immigration court ICE has justified agents wearing masks because of safety risks claiming assaults against its agents are up almost DHS input displayed assaults in a six month period this year compared to assaults in the same period in That number isn t adjusted to account for the increased number of ICE arrests this year ICE arrests have increased in every state since President Donald Trump took office and have more than doubled in states according to the New York Times This agency has been in the spotlight thanks to Trump s mass deportation plan and Amerians aren t liking what they see ICE agents have refused lawmakers entry to agency facilities detained tourists and carried out raids that sparked days of protests in Los Angeles The agency is set to have its efforts supercharged by a massive funding increase in Trump s big beautiful spending package Read more about ICE As a former Moonie Trump s cult tactics are eerily familiar How billion is creating a police state ICE s billion windfall Trump s mass deportation force set to receive military-level funding The post Spineless creeps ICE lawyers are hiding their names in court appeared first on Salon com
