It's the Brian Laira show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone, and thanks to Amina Serna,

Kusha, Navadar, and Bridget Bergen for filling in the last few shows. I continue to need to do parental care, which will continue to make my attendance here inconsistent for a period of time.

I'm sorry to say thank you all for understanding, and I hope you appreciate the work of my very excellent colleagues.

Now, the short government shutdown has ended with Democrats winning

this concession. The Department of Homeland Security is only being funded until next Friday,

while Congress and the White House try to negotiate possible changes to the rules of engagement

for ICE. As New York Magazine reports it, Senate Democrats have a list

of substantive demands that include a requirement for judicial warrants before ICE or Border

Patrol arrests, coordination with local law enforcement and deference to their use of force rules, and an end to masking.

Let's talk about that last one.

Here's Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday.

Defending ICE agents wearing masks and giving them special treatment, especially when they're so

brutal and thuggy, is totally against the views of most Americans

who want basic accountability. Anyone defending ICE agents keeping their masks on is not seriously trying to solve.

This huge problem of chaos we have seen in Minneapolis and so many of our other cities when ice is sent in there.

Senator Schumer yesterday, Atlantic Magazine staff writer Adam Surwer has a new article called

The Real Reason Ice Agents Wear Masks.

He's also author of the book, The Cruelty is the Point, why Trump's America Endures, and that, by the way, was published back in 2022.

And thank you for joining us, Adam.

Welcome back to WNYC.

Thank you so much for having me.

You make your opinion clear from the start of the article, so you might as well do that here, that there is no justification for federal agents to hide

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