CITING “CIVIL UNREST” in American cities, the Department of Homeland Security has accelerated new regulations meant to expand the powers of a little-known federal police force.
The new rules drew scant notice when they were first proposed during the twilight of the Biden administration. Now, using language about “rioters” at federal facilities, the Trump administration is fast-tracking the rule changes — which critics say DHS could use as a pretext to go after protesters wearing frog costumes or making a racket on the streets of Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
Among the new rules was the criminalization of protesters wearing masks. The mask ban ostensibly applies only to those trying to conceal their identity during a crime, but the Trump administration has taken an expansive view of criminal behavior in protests that includes an array of First Amendment-protected activity.
Rules can’t criminalize anything. The thing they’re thinking of is “laws”. Which haven’t changed.
This is not to say they won’t arrest people. It’ll just either be for a law that already existed that we were just assuming they wouldn’t abuse, or it will be an illegal arrest to hopefully be quickly booted from court by a judge.
Laws don’t matter if you get swept up without due process and disappear.