Congress is considering an effort to force more transparency for immigration officials.
During a recent town hall in Manassas, Congressman Suhas Subramanyam got an earful about ICE agents wearing masks.
"Police officers don't do it. Military people don't do it. Everybody who does that type of work, that's always a concern," one constituent says. "But I don't understand why we’re allowing this, how we can allow it. And I can't understand why we can't stop it."
The congressman says he agrees.
"I'm trying to convince people who may have even voted for this president to see from a civil libertarian perspective why this is damaging to our democracy," Subramanyam says.
That's why he says he introduced a bill called the Watch ICE Act, requiring ICE officials to release data on arrests, detentions and deportations.
"I think there's an argument to be made as to why a libertarian should also oppose these policies, and that I think that's usually when this administration starts to respond," says Subramanyam.
Even if Republicans don't advance his bill in Congress, critics of ICE hope the discussion about civil liberties will be part of the conversation on the campaign trail.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
