ICE brokers arresting a protester in Chinatown on Oct. 21, 2025.
Photograph by Dean Moses
A New York politician has put forth a approach to assist cease the rise of assaults involving masked ICE brokers who refuse to establish themselves: By placing QR codes on their uniforms.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, representing the Bronx, will introduce the Fast Recognition (QR) Act into Congress subsequent week, a invoice that might require Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers, in addition to Customs and Border Safety (CBP) officers, to have QR codes embedded into their uniforms.
“There is an urgent need to unmask ICE not only physically but digitally. So I have legislation that would require ICE agents to wear uniforms that contain QR codes, which can be scanned by members of the public,” stated Torres, a former NYC Council member who was elected to Congress in 2021.
When scanned, the code would generate a digital ID displaying the officer’s identify, badge quantity and regulation enforcement company, Torres defined.
The Congress member acknowledged that he’s more likely to get pushback from regulation enforcement and advocates on the invoice, however defined that scanning a QR code is a a lot safer different than asking an officer to provide a bodily ID.
“Keep in mind, officers have a responsibility to identify themselves to the public. And scanning a QR code is much safer than asking for a physical ID,” the consultant stated. “The act of asking for a physical ID creates an encounter that can escalate into violence.”
Torres reiterated the significance of requiring officers from regulation enforcement companies, whether or not federal or native, to establish themselves, present their names and never put on masks or coverings.
Rein in ICE with ‘the power of the purse’
Because the invoice goes by means of the legislative course of, Torres stated he’s cracking down on ICE assaults by chopping the company off the place it hurts: Within the pockets.
“ICE is a systemically corrupt institution. We in Congress should leverage the power of the purse to rein in ICE and rein in Donald Trump’s mass deportation machine,” Torres stated. “I, for one, will oppose any and all spending legislation that allocates a dollar to ICE. That’s the best leverage that House Democrats have.”
New York News contacted the Division of Homeland Safety for touch upon the laws and is awaiting a response.
Torres’ invoice follows the deadly capturing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonhathan Ross in Minnesota on Jan. 7. Good was killed after allegedly making an attempt to drive her automotive towards the agent. Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem has repeatedly defended the officer, stating that he acted in self-defence, fearing he or others would get run over.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks in the course of the The Jerusalem Submit New York convention on June 3, 2024 in Manhattan.Photograph by Noam Galai/Getty Photographs
Based on studies that got here out on Jan. 14, Ross suffered inside bleeding following the tragic incident. The extent of the accidents is unclear.
For months, ICE brokers at 26 Federal Plaza have snatched up a lot of these showing in individual for necessary immigration courtroom.
A NYC Council staffer, 53-year-old Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, was taken into custody by the feds whereas displaying up for a compulsory, routine immigration listening to on Lengthy Island Monday. Council members on Tuesday held a rally in help of Rubio Bohorquez’s launch. Many on the rally turned emotional as they denounced the staffer’s detainment.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani referred to as the arrest “an assault on our democracy, on our city and our values.”
Torres, whose laws would quickly be going by means of the legislative course of, additionally doubled down on the significance of ICE brokers unmasking themselves. saying federal brokers should have their faces unobstructed whereas on obligation.
“I see unmasking as a best practice,” he stated. “Transparency is not an option but an obligation.”
