Safety measure? Or intimidation tactic? Masked ICE agents spark the debate
Immigration agents are increasingly hiding their faces behind masks, a move that is drawing new criticism as the White House ramps up detention and deportations and prepares to dispatch more officers.
A group of Democratic attorneys general have now asked Congress to pass a law forcing ICE agents to routinely operate without masks, arguing the policy of letting agents operate anonymously has sparked multiple police impersonators. Democratic members of Congress have also pushed the administration to make ICE agents more readily identifiable.
Federal authorities say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents need to conceal their identities to protect their families from retaliation as they execute President Donald Trump's orders to conduct the largest mass deportation in history.
Attacks on the rise: ICE agents hurt as assaults surge 700% amid aggressive enforcement
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said gang members and Antifa-affiliated groups have been publicizing agents' faces and home addresses. She said agents need to mask up to remain safe, especially when there have now been multiple attacks on federal immigration sites and on individual agents.
"We will prosecute those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law. These criminals are taking the side of vicious cartels and human traffickers," Noem said in a July 11 statement. "We won't allow it in America."
'Pissing off ordinary Americans'
Critics say masked agents are being used largely as an intimidation tactic that has little grounding in actual officer safety. They fear it's instead weakening bonds between the public and law enforcement. The ACLU also argues the lack of accountability exacerbates racial profiling by unidentifiable officers.
"Secret police tactics like this erode trust in law enforcement and allows criminals to dangerously impersonate officers ‒ which is already happening," said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat.
Retired California police supervisor Diane Goldstein said masked agents are exacerbating tensions because there's virtually no public accountability when law enforcement operates anonymously. Goldstein was a police lieutenant in the Los Angeles area and is now executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit that works with communities to help reform policing.
"You know who doesn't wear masks? Judges. District attorneys. Public defenders. State and local law enforcement, except for very narrow carveouts," Goldstein said. "The safety issue is just an excuse. The administration doesn't seem to understand that it's their heavy-handed tactics that are increasing the level of danger to their officers. They are pissing off ordinary Americans."
Harder to 'tell the difference between a bad guy and a good guy'
The issue of wearing masks in public to provide anonymity has a long history in the United States, and some states ban protesters from wearing them. Those laws typically trace their origin to KKK marches, but have more recently used by authorities to limit mask-wearing by pro-Palestinian protesters, often on college campuses, according the the ACLU.
Trump himself has criticized protesters who wear masks, posting on Truth Social on June 8, "... from now on, masks will not be allowed to be worn at protests. What do these people have to hide, and why???"
Goldstein said Trump's comment gets at the heart of why police officers should rarely hide their identity.
Modern policing traces its origins to Sir Robert Peel's "Nine Principles of Policing, developed in the early 1800s to guide England's new Metropolitan Police. The "Peelian principles" centered the approach that effective policing depends on community cooperation, trust, and the concept that officers are part of the community, not standing apart from it.
"Everything they are saying goes against everything law enforcement has been taught about how we should serve others," Goldstein said of the masked agents. "Right now, Homeland Security is operating like thugs and criminals. And when we can't tell the difference between a bad guy and a good guy..."
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