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Republicans and Democrats clashed at a Homeland Security hearing on Wednesday, sharply disagreeing over whether public rhetoric or operational tactics have spurred violence against law enforcement in recent months.
Although the committee discussed the safety of service members from a range of different agencies, lawmakers spent much of their time considering the public discourse surrounding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
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Ahead of the hearing, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., said he doesn't believe that Democrat-led criticisms of ICE have directly led to violence but have created an environment that makes them more likely.
"Some of it is rhetoric that we've seen come out of many people in the Democrat Party. I mean, you know, there have been examples where we've had governors, mayors, members of Congress who have had very derogatory things to say about particularly ICE [and] federal law enforcement," Guest said.
"I'm not gonna say every member of the Democratic Party has that philosophy, but there's quite a few who have espoused those beliefs publicly. And I think it creates a very dangerous situation."
Guest noted that calls against law enforcement have circulated for years, stretching back to the "defund the police" movement.
The committee entertained testimony from Michael Hughes, executive director of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association; Patrick Yoes, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police; Jonathan Thompson, CEO of the National Sheriffs' Association, and Daniel Hodges, an officer with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
Hughes, like Guest, said he believes alarmist rhetoric heightens the possibility of violence against law enforcement.
"Constructive criticism of law enforcement is healthy and accountability is essential. But what we are seeing today from some public figures, segments of the media, and even some elected officials is not accountability, it is vilification," Hughes said.
"When officers are depicted as political actors or adversaries rather than public servants, that rhetoric fuels hostility and makes already difficult jobs even more dangerous," Hughes added.
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While Democrats across the board condemned recent acts of violence - like the shooting of a pair of National Guard members in Washington, D.C. - they also raised concerns that ICE's unconventional operations raised the likelihood of violence far more than words alone.
In particular, Democrats questioned ICE's use of masks and other tactics to disguise their ties to law enforcement.
Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., pointed to FBI memos detailing how criminals had impersonated ICE agents to conduct crimes. He also noted a standoff between a pair of government agents in his home district in Santa Ana.
"Recently, a masked ICE agent - plainclothes - pointed a gun at a woman that he claimed was following and recording him. Local Santa Ana police officers responded to the call. You can imagine what almost happened," Correa said. "Armed police officer, armed ICE agent. That close to a gunfight."
"This is not the way you instill trust in our society," Correa added.
Other Democrats also voiced alarm at measures within ICE to hold agents accountable for rogue behavior. In one video shown before the committee, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said the agency had reinstated an agent who had assaulted a suspect.
Goldman said he had introduced the No Secret Police Act that would outlaw masking for law enforcement agents.
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"You're creating a toxic environment that is naturally going to lead to more violence and more confrontation," Goldman told Fox News Digital.
Responding to questions about masking, Guest said he believes the covert nature of the operations, which sometimes include disguised civilian attire, provides for the safety of ICE's agents.
"I believe that the reason that those agents are acting in that manner is because of the threats that they received, concerns for their personal safety, safety of their family," Guest said.
"And so again, we as taxpayers are asking them to do a very dangerous job, a job in which now they've been demonized by elected officials from the left. [They] have demonized what they're doing," Guest said.
