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A Los Angeles County supervisor is warning community members about people impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after masked men allegedly profiled and threatened a staff member’s godson following days of actual ICE raids around the city.
During a Tuesday meeting, Supervisor Kathryn Barger recounted the story of two masked men in an unmarked vehicle with flashing lights allegedly pulling over a staff member’s godson, then making a derogatory comment that he was driving a “nice truck for someone with that surname,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
The men then attempted to enter the vehicle, but fled once a crowd began recording the encounter.
“I do believe there may be people out there impersonating ICE, taking advantage of this population,” Barger said, adding that she called ICE about the incident and got no response.
The Independent has contacted the Los Angeles ICE field office for comment.
The warnings come after days of heightened tensions around Los Angeles, following a string of aggressive ICE raids around the city, as well as mass protests against the enforcement that prompted the Trump administration to send National Guard troops and Marines into the area over the objection of local and state officials.
Individuals in at least three states have been arrested this year for impersonating ICE agents, who often use face masks and unmarked vehicles in legitimate operations.
In a January incident in South Carolina, a man was charged with kidnapping and impersonating police after allegedly detaining a group of Latino men in Charleston County, accosting them for speaking Spanish, and yelling, “You’re going back to Mexico!”
That same month, a North Carolina man allegedly impersonated an ICE agent and threatened a woman with deportation to coerce her into having sex with him.
California lawmakers are pushing to largely ban federal law enforcement agents from wearing face masks, and congressional Democrats have compared the masked agents to dictatorial secret police.
“We’re seeing the rise of secret police — masked, no identifying info, even wearing army fatigues — grabbing and disappearing people,” California State Senator Scott Wiener, wrote on X this week, introducing the mask ban bill.
The Trump administration insists masks are needed to protect immigration officers against a spike in threats and assaults against them.
