Masked Immigration Arrests Spark Outrage And Fears Over Law Enforcement Tactics

 

When New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander returned to a Manhattan immigration courthouse on Friday, days after his arrest while accompanying a detained immigrant, he said he once again witnessed “a deeply dehumanizing process.”

Lander described seeing three individuals forcibly removed by masked, non-uniformed federal agents who gave no explanation for their actions. “They were ripped from the arms of escorts in proceedings that bear no resemblance to justice,” Lander said.

This troubling scene is part of a growing trend under the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies: arrests carried out by federal officers wearing masks, lacking identification, and operating without transparency. These tactics have been used during court proceedings, at traffic stops, and in workplace raids—often targeting undocumented immigrants with no history of violent crime.

Former ICE and Homeland Security officials have voiced concern over this shift. “In all my years with ICE, I never saw officers wearing masks,” said John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE. While protecting officers from harassment is important, Sandweg argued that the current use of masks goes well beyond reasonable safety measures. “It should be the exception, not the rule.”

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons defended the practice, saying agents wear masks to shield their identities and protect their families from being doxxed or harassed. “I’m sorry if people are offended,” he said, “but I’m not going to let my officers and agents be endangered just because some people dislike immigration enforcement.”

But others in law enforcement and immigration policy see this practice as a dangerous step toward authoritarianism. Scott Shuchart, a senior ICE official during the Biden administration, called the anonymity “unprecedented” and “very dangerous,” noting that agents often provide no indication they are law enforcement, let alone which agency they represent.

Critics have pointed out the hypocrisy of banning demonstrators from wearing masks at protests—an order issued by President Trump—while allowing federal agents to conceal their identities during arrests.

The New York City Bar Association issued a strong condemnation, warning that masked arrests erode public trust and make it nearly impossible to tell the difference between legitimate law enforcement and impersonators. This fear was echoed in the wake of a recent tragic incident in Minnesota where state lawmakers and their spouses were shot by a man pretending to be a police officer.

“There are a lot of guns in this country,” Shuchart warned. “We’re setting ourselves up for a vigilante problem when people can’t tell if someone in a mask is a real officer or not.”

In response to the growing concerns, California lawmakers introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for officers at any level—local, state, or federal—to cover their faces during operations. The proposal, aimed at restoring transparency, would require all law enforcement to wear identifiable uniforms and show their faces.

The outrage has even reached Congress. Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts compared the scenes of masked officers detaining immigrants to the Gestapo tactics of Nazi Germany. “It does look like a Gestapo operation,” Lynch said during a House Oversight Committee hearing.

Since the beginning of the Trump administration, ICE has shifted from a focus on public safety and national security threats to a broader mandate of mass deportations. Internal pressure to meet arrest quotas has reportedly led agents to detain people with minor infractions, including traffic violations or immigration status alone.

According to ICE records, over 75% of those detained between October 2024 and May 2025 had no criminal convictions beyond immigration or traffic offenses. Less than 10% had been convicted of serious violent crimes.

Former ICE official Kevin Landy highlighted the whiplash agents experience between administrations. “Under liberal leadership, they’re told to prioritize criminals. Under conservatives, they’re ordered to arrest everyone they can,” he said. “The use of masks adds to the sense that we’re slipping into lawlessness.”

On Friday, Lander was joined by State Sen. Jessica Ramos at the courthouse. They witnessed a masked agent detain a man in front of his pregnant wife, who sobbed as he was led away. Her immigration case remains unresolved.

For many advocates and lawmakers, the optics and tactics of these masked operations represent a dangerous erosion of civil liberties and due process. As Lander put it, these actions are "not justice—they are intimidation, plain and simple.”