An increasing number of cities and states are considering measures to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from wearing face coverings while conducting their operations.

Many have grown alarmed by videos of masked ICE officers from unmarked cars grabbing people off the street for detainment. The outrage has put pressure on local lawmakers to respond. 

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State legislatures in California, Massachusetts, and New York are considering legislation that would ban masks and require federal immigration officers to wear IDs, which local law enforcement is required to do. 

In California, the legislation would require local, state, and federal officers to make their identities open through name tags, ID badge numbers, and other markers. It would also ban face coverings. In New York, a proposed bill would ban local, state, and federal officers from using masks or disguises and require them to display their name or badge on their uniforms. 

In Massachusetts, one Democratic state lawmaker introduced a bill that would prevent any law enforcement officers in the Commonwealth from wearing “any mask or personal disguise while interacting with the public in the performance of their duties,” and would require them to have their name or badge number visible on them.

“For a police officer to detain somebody, they have not just their face visible, but they have a badge number visible, probably their name visible, and they have a warrant signed by a judge. The ICE officers have none of that,” Democratic state Rep. Jim Hawkins (MA) said.

The Democratic-led cities of Chicago and Albuquerque are also considering similar measures. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and 18 aldermen proposed a resolution to state lawmakers asking them to take up measures that would ban masks for federal immigration agents.

Additionally, a group of 21 Democratic attorneys general wrote a letter to Congress asking it to consider legislation at the federal level to ban agents from wearing masks or plain clothes while conducting immigration enforcement. 

“We have watched these detentions with alarm, as the imagery evokes comparisons to repressive tactics that have no place in a free country,” they wrote, adding that ICE officers engage now in the “routine practice of carrying out arrests in public spaces through masked agents who do not identify themselves as law enforcement has the effect of terrorizing communities rather than protecting them.” 

New York Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat introduced the No Secret Police Act that would ban ICE officers from wearing masks.

“If you uphold the peace of a democratic society, you should not be anonymous. DHS and ICE agents wearing masks and hiding identification echoes the tactics of secret police authoritarian regimes – and deviates from the practices of local law enforcement, which contributes to confusion in communities,” Espaillat said in a statement.

Local law enforcement is required to wear badge numbers to deter bad policing and impersonators. There are rising concerns about people impersonating ICE officers, and there have been reports of families of those who have been taken by unmasked ICE officers believing their loved ones were kidnapped.

Department of Homeland Security officials have mostly downplayed concerns about masked, unnamed law enforcement officers conducting operations. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons addressed the imposters using masks and said, “That’s one of our biggest concerns, and I’ve said it publicly before, I’m not a proponent of the masks.”

“However, if that’s a tool that the men and women of ICE to keep themselves and their family safe, then I will allow it. I do kind of push back on the criticism that they don’t identify themselves,” Lyons said Sunday on CBS News.

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DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin has said ICE officers cover their faces to protect themselves from doxxing.

ICE’s power is only set to increase in upcoming years. President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” increases the ICE budget from $8 billion per year to $28 billion per year, making it the most funded law enforcement body in the federal government.