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The Visible Act
U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have introduced new legislation that would require immigration enforcement officers to wear clearly visible identification during public-facing enforcement actions.
This act also bans non-medical face coverings like masks or balaclavas because, says Senator Padilla, “No one should have to wake up one morning and fear that they’re being kidnapped by masked strangers.”
The Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement (VISIBLE) Act of 2025 comes in response to incidents where masked immigration agents, operating from unmarked vehicles, were seen seizing individuals off the street without clearly identifying their agency or presenting a warrant — actions that led some observers to compare ICE arrests to kidnappings.
Crackdown on immigrants
At a July 14 Newsmaker Briefing hosted by American Community Media (ACom), U.S. Senator Alex Padilla said the beginning of this year marked the start of a different political climate. “It seems like a very different world.”
The top priority in Trump’s second term, said Padilla, was “yet another round of massive tax breaks for the rich,” while working families were going to have to pay more. He pointed out that a trillion dollars from Medicaid was being cut, “kicking 17 million Americans off their healthcare,” as well as “rolling back the historic progress that we made on the clean energy transition.”
Significantly, the bill also adds $170 billion to the budget for Trump’s mass deportation agenda, “a ramp up in their campaign of terror, like what we saw just last week in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles.”
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE were the only budget areas to receive a major infusion of investment, signaling not just a continuation, but an escalation of the harsh policies of mass detention and deportation. Padilla called these actions ‘‘deeply flawed from a policy standpoint,’ but also widely unpopular with the American public.
Masked ICE agents
A key reason for introducing the Visible Act, said Padilla, was that there have been reported instances, not just in California, but across the country, of people impersonating ICE officers.
Such deception became significantly easier when ICE officers were not required to display visible identification on their uniforms or bodies.“They’re allowed to mask up, drive unmarked vehicles,” noted Padilla, causing “a very big public safety concern for the community and for the agents themselves.”
Moreover, the incidence of kidnapping, burglary, theft, and even sexual assault becomes more likely without accountability measures in place for law enforcement, he added.
The Visible Act reinforced what is standard procedure at other federal and state agencies, said Padilla. “Other federal law enforcement agencies have that requirement of identification. We know the policies work because at the state level in California, local police departments and sheriffs all have the same requirement.”
The Visible ACT will require DHS to establish disciplinary procedures for violations, require annual DHS compliance reporting to Congress, and channel complaint investigations through the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Attacking a Senator
In an incident on June 12, 2025, that went viral on video, Senator Padilla was forcibly removed and thrown to the ground by federal agents during a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
Padilla had approached the podium to ask Secretary Noem about ongoing ICE raids. Video footage clearly shows him identifying himself —“I’m Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions…” with his hands raised, before agents pushed him back, wrestled him to the ground, and restrained him before handcuffing Padilla in a hallway. He was later released without being arrested.
“You heard me repeatedly asking, why am I being detained with no answer. But in the aftermath of that event, not a surprise to me that the Trump administration chose to lie about what happened. But thankfully, there was a video that everybody was able to see for themselves,” said Padilla.
If this is how this administration responds “to a United States Senator who wants to ask a question trying to get information as to what’s really going on,” stressed Padilla, “ then we can only imagine what they’re willing to do, and what they are doing to so many people in all corners of the country but especially in Los Angeles.”
Senators Schiff and Padilla are in active communication with the vast majority of California’s Democratic congressional delegation regarding last week’s militarized ICE operations in Carpinteria and Camarillo. “The more we know of specific people that we are looking for and the more we continue to inquire about who’s in custody and where —It’s not always immediate, but that helps us locate somebody sooner rather than later,” he said.
Restraining order against racial profiling
On July 11, a federal court in California issued two temporary restraining orders against ICE, prohibiting racial profiling during immigration stops and denial of access to legal counsel.
The case, filed by the ACLU of Southern California and immigrant rights groups, alleges that ICE agents have been targeting individuals based on factors like race, ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence in specific locations (like bus stops or car washes), or type of employment. These actions, the lawsuit claims, violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process.
This ruling blocks federal agents from continuing these practices in Southern California counties, including Los Angeles.
Sanctuary laws still apply
All local police departments or a county sheriff’s office in California are still bound by California law, said Padilla. Those laws still apply despite the rhetoric around sanctuary policies, sanctuary cities, or even sanctuary states.
“I’ve had to continue to remind even some of my colleagues, both sides of the aisle, of what sanctuary means and what it doesn’t mean,” he continued.
“Does it mean the federal government can’t come into California to enforce federal immigration law? No. What it means is the state of California will not commit its state resources or local resources for the federal government. We’re not gonna do the federal government’s job, right?”
Due process rights
Know your rights, advised Padilla. Regardless of immigration status, everybody has due process rights in the United States.
Part of our job is to hold the administration accountable, he continued, to make sure people have their due process rights. “Like not needing to talk to an ICE agent if they don’t have a warrant signed by a judge. The ability to talk to an attorney before (signing) any documentation.”
Polls on immigration
It’s not a debate about having the safe, secure, orderly, and humane border that everybody wants, said Padilla. It’s also about overwhelming bipartisan support for humanity and fairness for long-term residents of the United States who happen to be undocumented. “If you ask voters about DREAMers, for example, overwhelming bipartisan support. If you ask about farmworkers or other essential workers, overwhelming bipartisan support.”
Recent poll numbers reflect people’s reaction to the cruelty of the administration’s overreach. A new Gallup poll released on July 11 shows a sharp decline in the number of Americans who want less immigration, just 30% now, down from 55% last year. This sharp shift in opinion reflects a change among Americans of all major parties and reverses a four-year trend of rising concern about immigration that began in 2021.
Today, 79% of Americans say they view immigration as good for the country, while support has declined for key Trump proposals like mass deportation and the border wall.
“We still have a lot of work to do — to try to finally modernize our immigration system and laws. We’ve been needing to do it for a long, long time now”, said Padilla.
“I think in the longer term, we can’t lose faith, right? This country and our democracy is worth fighting for, that’s why I do what I do.”