WASHINGTON (TNND) — A federal judge blocked a New York law preventing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks and requiring them to display identification.
U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino of the Northern District of New York, an Obama appointee, granted the Justice Department’s preliminary injunction request on Monday, saying she expected the federal government to succeed at trial with its argument that the state’s “face covering and identification acts directly regulate federal officers in violation of the Supremacy Clause,” the New York Times reported.
D’Agostino wrote in her ruling that New York officials “may be correct that federal immigration officers wearing masks and not displaying viable identification creates certain dangerous situations that the face covering and identification acts remedy.”
But, she added, “settled law establishes that federal, not state, authorities make the policies that animate the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
On Aug. 25, New York’s broader ban on formal collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents goes into effect, which D’Agostino allowed in her ruling.
The Justice Department sued New York over the mask policy in June, arguing that ICE agents wear masks to protect themselves from harassment. The Trump administration previously won in court against a similar law that was struck down in California, after a judge said that the measure had improperly discriminated against federal officials.
New York Democrats Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, in a joint statement, praised D’Agostino’s decision to allow the cooperation ban to take effect.
“Local law enforcement should be focused on local matters, and New York taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for any collaboration with ICE,” Hochul and James said.
The state officials added that New York will review all legal options regarding the decision on masks, and that “we stand firm in our belief that masked agents do not make New York safer.”