A state law banning federal agents from wearing masks on duty has been stalled in federal courts. The Trump Administration has further cut the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) body camera program and reduced staffing in the agency’s internal oversight.
Though the issue has rallied democratic lawmakers and civil rights groups to criticize the practice by ICE agents as an attempt to evade accountability, the federal government has maintained that masks are necessary for officer safety and has actively challenged efforts to reign in on constitutional grounds.
In its recent statement, the City Bar called on Congress to ban law enforcement from concealing their identification and attacked federal agents’ widespread use of masks and other forms of identity concealment as “undermining the rule of law,” sowing fear and encouraging human rights violations.
“It has become apparent that federal immigration agents and other federal law enforcement officers’ use of masking or other means of obscuring their identity, like foregoing badges, have sowed fear and distrust of law enforcement, and potentially emboldened violations of rights,” the City Bar wrote in its statement. “Furthermore, masking to conceal the identity of law enforcement agents serves no legitimate purpose. Law enforcement officials throughout the country go unmasked and reveal their identities through nametags and badges; federal law enforcement agents should be no different.”
As part of the state budget, New York state passed a package of immigration-related bills that contained a law banning all state and federal officials — ICE agents included — from masking up on the job, except for specific safety conditions. In August, however, a federal judge in the Northern District of New York blocked the law from taking effect in response to a lawsuit that the Department of Justice filed against New York over the measure.
As part of its statement, the City Bar cited the federal government’s escalating defense of the The Trump Administration reduced internal oversight by cutting funding for ICE body cameras and reducing staffing for DHS internal watchdog offices.
New York’s legal battle over masking is one of around 20 cases where states introduced or enacted legislation requiring law enforcement officers to display identification and prohibit non-medical face coverings only to have the the Department of Justice challenge the laws, asserting that regulating federal officers violates the Supremacy Clause and intergovernmental immunity.
ICE has argued that federal officials have argued that agents need to be able to wear masks to protect themselves from harassment.
In addition to its call on Congress, the bar association renewed its call on the Trump administration directly “to end the masking practice immediately and to restore the oversight mechanisms it has eliminated.”
In response to the bar associations statement, a spokesperson for ICE denounced New York state legislators, asserting that “sanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from wearing masks is despicable and a flagrant attempt to endanger our officers. To be crystal clear: we will not abide by unconstitutional bans.”