“Happy Halloween!”
Such was the reply from the Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin when asked about the presence of ICE agents seen patrolling areas of Los Angeles in spooky masks on October 31.
Reports of the federal agents in costume were shared by local outlets including L.A. Taco. The story showed the officials in unmarked cars wearing scary masks, some of whom had been verified by local activists as being part of previous immigration raids.
McLaughlin’s somewhat nonchalant response to The Independent’s request for comment about the agents was not accompanied by any further statement.
She also did not respond to a further query on whether the use of holiday masks may increase the rates of assaults on ICE agents, or whether those who did retaliate would be penalized despite not knowing that they were being arrested by federal agents in costume.
The Department of Homeland Security has previously claimed that attacks on ICE agents were up 1,000 percent, while threats to officers were up 8,000 percent. The agency has not provided evidence to back this up.
In its report on the masked agents, L.A. Taco cited volunteers from Harbor Area Peace Patrollers, which monitors federal activity at Terminal Island harbor, around 25 miles south of central Los Angeles.
One volunteer reported seeing one agent wearing a mask of haunted doll Chucky, and another wearing a mask of Momo – a viral internet hoax involving a creepy chicken lady. The agents were both seen in the area and also conducting raids in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles county.
The distasteful use of holiday masks by agents in California comes as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker appealed to ICE officials to briefly cease operations in Chicago over Halloween to allow children and families to have “a break” while celebrating.
Pritzker, who has been consistently pushing back against the administration’s federal presence in Illinois, told reporters that he asked Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security to “pause all of their federal agents’ operations for the entirety of the Halloween weekend.”
“The Department of Homeland Security claims their highest priority is to protect children, so today I have to ask them, please live up to those ideals,” Pritzker said in a press conference.
But in a scathing response Noem said the department was “absolutely not willing” to pause any enforcement, claiming it was keeping cities and children safer, describing the request as “shameful.”
She told Fox News that not only would the activities continue, but they would “increase.” “The fact that Governor Pritzker is asking for that is shameful and I think unfortunate that he does not recognize how important the work that we do is,” Noem said.
Far away from trick-or-treating families fearful of arrest by ICE agents in scary masks, Donald Trump was enjoying his Halloween, hosting a lavish party at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.
On Thursday the president hosted a Halloween event for children where he repeated his viral stunt of placing a candy bar on top of the head of one of the attending youngsters.
