A day after Rep. Ocasio-Cortez responds to a gender epithet, she introduces a bill requiring Feds to identify themselves.
Fresh from a showdown on the steps of the Capitol building with Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), the young progressive Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced legislation in response to federal agents abducting protesters in Portland.
“Secret police snatching Americans off of street corners and shooting rubber bullets at peaceful demonstrators is something we would expect to see in an authoritarian state, not outside the White House. Yet, that is our current reality,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
H.R. 7711, or the Law Enforcement Identification Transparency Act of 2020 was introduced with Rep. Eleanor Norton (D-D.C.) on Tuesday.
“This bill will increase accountability and oversight for law enforcement. Currently, law enforcement can violate an American’s First Amendment rights with complete anonymity. If an officer violates their agency’s policies, their victim should have the ability to report them to their agency and demand accountability,” explained Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.
Portland showdown
The bill follows a slew of reports detailing how federal agents carried out a series of snatch-and-grabs of protesters in Portland. In the detainment tactics, law enforcement wore plain clothes or camouflage uniforms. In arresting residents, they refused to identify themselves as they grabbed demonstrators then shoved them into unmarked vans.
“They’re not wanted here. We haven’t asked them here. In fact we want them to leave,” said the city’s mayor Ted Wheeler, to CNN.
Mayor Wheeler’s demands came after footage showed federal agents snatching Portlanders then throwing them in vehicles without responding to repeated requests by residents for their identification. Some of the vehicles were rentals, according to Mayor Wheeler. The outrage in Portland reverberated so loudly that hundreds of women who said they were mothers, formed a “wall of moms” to shield demonstrators against cops.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a lawsuit last week against federal agencies with claims that the agents “engaged in unlawful law enforcement in violation of the civil rights of Oregonians by seizing and detaining them without probable cause.”
Rep. Norton, the co-author of the proposed bill explained that federal agents are not required to produce identification like local law enforcement. She anticipates that H.R. 7711 “seeks to prevent issues we have seen with federal police in recent weeks.”
Getting it done
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez bounced back from the start of a rough week when Rep. Yoho confronted her about remarks she made regarding crime and policing during the Covid-19 shutdown. The tete-a-tete ended with the tenured Florida congressional official calling Rep. Ocasio-Cortez a “fucking bitch,” as he walked away.
In response, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “b*tiches get stuff done.” The next day, she walked out of the Capitol building playing ,“Boss Bitch” by Doja Cat after H.R. 7711 was introduced. No apology has been issued by Rep. Yoho at press time.
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