CNN’s Smerconish Pushes Back at Dem Lawmaker Calling for Banning Masks for ICE Agents: ‘Don‘t We Owe Them a Duty of Protecting Them on the Front Line of Doing Their Job?’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Comptroller Brad Lander. The assault charge appeared to be little more than political theater. So is this masking really about protecting officers, or is it a way to avoid accountability or a combination thereof? Joining me now is democratic representative Lou Correa of California, a member of the house committee on homeland security. He introduced an amendment to the reconciliation bill that would have banned facial coverings and required I.c.E. agents to to be exposed. Congressman correa, thank you so much. Do you dispute the physical threats that are out there and being faced by ice agents?
>> Congressman moreira.
>> Orange.
>> County.
>> California, look, a public safety.
>> Officer federal, state.
>> Local ice, FBI.
>> Whoever it.
>> Is.
>> Their number one job, protect.
>> The public, protect.
>> The public. That‘s why we give. Them a badge. We give them a gun. We give them a.
>> Lot of.
>> Firepower in a big.
>> Number of individuals. When they go make those arrests. If it was about public safety, that‘s why you want to have a mask. Then why don‘t the local police officers have masks? Why don‘t the local sheriffs have masks? No, on the contrary. What we want is the public trust. When an agent is out there, we want the public to know who they are so they can trust them. Remember. Remember where we‘re going? Where did we start? Long time ago, President Trump said, I‘m going after criminals. Today, 75% of everybody apprehended is a person with no criminal background. And there‘s a lot of American citizens right now being apprehended as well. So you have masked individuals. I don‘t know who they are. There‘s a possibility you now hear talk about copycat crimes, criminals putting on badges, stopping people, robbing them. This is not good public.
>> Congressman, don‘t you worry. Don‘t you.
>> Worry.
>> Don‘t you worry about the safety of those I.c.E. agents in the same way that you would worry about the safety of of a swat team member who covers his or her face, or somebody who infiltrates a gang or the mob. I mean, don‘t we owe them a duty of protecting them on the front line, of doing their job? Correct, correct.
>> And I‘ve worked with police officers for 25 years, and I can tell you, None of them have ever said I need a mask to be safe on the streets of your city. On the contrary, safety means you have the trust of the public. Safety means you don‘t have to cover yourself up when you‘re arresting somebody.
>> But I just.
>> Showed the footage.
>> But, sir, I just showed the footage of people throwing rocks at these individuals.
>> There‘s cases of knuckleheads at these events, but for the most part, for example, here in Santa Ana civic center, ice holding, we have national guard here. We were going to have marines. Very boring place. Why do we have such massive enforcements? We‘re still civilians. This is not a war zone. Do we have differences on public policy? Yes, but I‘d rather work through them those I.c.E. agents, I worked with them for eight years, sir, I. I work with them. I hear them out. I‘m always working to make sure