Since Donald Trump took office for a second time, masked federal agents are wreaking havoc and making arrests of immigrants and even some U.S. citizens. Two lawmakers in Congress say they have a plan to stop the “secret” policing that has become a feature of this administration.
Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, both Democrats of New York, introduced the “No Secret Police Act of 2025” on Thursday. If passed, the legislation would forbid law enforcement officers and agents for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from hiding their faces or concealing their identity when making arrests. Agents would also be required to display or wear certain insignia, and provide identification when they are making arrests or attempting to detain someone.
Homemade, non-tactical masks are also banned under the proposed legislation.
“Across the country, plain-clothed federal agents in homemade face coverings are lying in wait outside immigration courts to snatch law-abiding, non-violent immigrants going through our legal system the right way. This isn’t about protecting law enforcement, it’s about terrorizing immigrant communities,” Goldman said. “The United States is not a dictatorship, and I’m proud to introduce this commonsense legislation ensuring that our federal government’s laws are enforced by identifiable human beings, not anonymous, secret agents of the state.”
Last week, New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by masked men inside of a federal immigration court in downtown Manhattan where raids have been occurring with some frequency. Lander said he was there to observe immigration proceedings and escort people out of the building in a bid to ensure no one was arrested without a judicial warrant. Though he had done this in the past, this time, Lander was roughly detained by multiple masked agents. Only one man wore a vest that appeared to be part of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division. Though the Department of Homeland Security accused Lander of assaulting an officer and detained him for hours, no charges were filed.
Some 37 Democratic lawmakers have already thrown their support behind the bill, according to a statement from Goldman.
The bill out of the House of Representatives comes after similar bills barring face coverings have been introduced by others, like one from state lawmakers in California.
Immigration raids have continued to ramp up there in recent weeks just like in New York. Masked federal agents without clear identification have been seen in California communities — and caught on camera — detaining people in parks, courthouses, apartment buildings, during traffic stops and at their workplaces. When California state Sen. Sasha Renee Perez (D) introduced the “No Vigilantes Act” in Pasadena on Monday, she told reporters during a press conference that people simply shouldn’t be asked to assume that arrests are being made by Homeland Security or ICE agents.
“The truth is unless these individuals provide proper identification, we don’t know,” she said.
Goldman and Espaillat’s bill is likely to face serious headwinds in the Republican-controlled House. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) blanched at the idea of ICE agents being forced to identify themselves when he appeared on Fox News earlier this month. Raising concerns about the assault and doxxing of ICE agents, Johnson compared bans on face coverings for law enforcement officers to mask-wearing measures people were asked to take when the coronavirus first started ripping through the U.S.
“From the people who mandated mask-wearing for years in America, it’s absurd. They need to back off of ICE and respect our agents and stop protesting against them,” Johnson said on June 9.
Johnson did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
The finger-wagging was reiterated by Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday during a Justice Department budget hearing in the Senate. When asked whether she was aware that masked agents were making arrests and failing to identify themselves, Bondi said it was “the first time the issue has come to me” before claiming that federal agents were being doxxed and threatened.
Mask-wearing by agents, according to an analysis by CNN, seemed to start in earnest around March when men in plain clothes without badges, visible insignia or ID started cracking down on protests of Israel unfolding at college campuses.
“The hodgepodge of federal agencies Trump is getting to execute his war on immigrants are terrorizing immigrant communities,” Natalia Aristizabal, the deputy director of Make the Road New York, said in a statement Thursday. “They blatantly disregard people’s rights and take people from their jobs, homes and streets, all while masked and unidentified. This must stop. ICE must answer to the people, and must identify themselves and the agencies they work for.”
A White House spokesperson claimed, without providing any evidence, that there is a “500% increase” in assaults on ICE officers due to “unhinged, dangerous rhetoric from Democrats.”
Instead of data on its claims, the spokesperson provided a link to the social media account of a transgender person who allegedly discussed attacking ICE agents.
“Instead of spending their time further demonizing heroic ICE officers, Democrat politicians should dial back the rhetoric and tell their supporters to stop attacking law enforcement,” the spokesperson said Thursday.
According to the New York City Bar Association, the concealment of agents’ faces is a public safety issue that needs to be addressed immediately. In a lengthy June 20 statement, the legal organization emphasized that current federal code requires immigration officers to identify themselves “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so,” when making an arrest, just like typical police officers are routinely required to when they make arrests.
Currently, there is no federal policy regulating how or when agents should cover their face. It is usually reserved for undercover agents. Department of Homeland Security policy, however, does state that after warrantless arrests, ICE officers must submit a full write-up documenting the circumstances of the arrest, including specific details about how, at the time of the arrest, the agent identified themselves as an immigration officer. (In May, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) reminded officials at the Department of Homeland Security about this policy as masked arrests unfolded in Virginia.)
Since 2020, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has warned that face coverings for police only raise tensions, put law enforcement officers in danger and make people “heighten their defensive reactions.”
Masking and concealment by law enforcement officers breeds confusion for the public and opens the door to bad actors who want to take advantage of the anonymity. Impersonation is also a serious concern: two Minnesota state legislators and their spouses were shot at their homes last week by a man impersonating a police officer.
“If you are upholding the law, you should not be anonymous, and our bill aims to safeguard from tyranny while upholding the values of our nation,” Rep. Espaillat said in a statement Thursday.