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ICE agents don't need masks, so why do we put up with it?

By Mike Kelly columnist
USA Today Network

..... One of the first lessons many crime reporters learn is that police officers generally love to have their pictures taken when they make an arrest. No masks. No concealed identities.
..... So what's with ICE agents and their mask-wearing arrests of undocumented immigrates?
..... In addressing the so-called masking question - which was emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the nation's debate over mitigation - I need to address something else: I am not in favor of open borders. far from it. Like many Americans, I fall somewhere in the middle, wanting accountability and controls over illegal mitigation - but not cruelty.
..... Simply put: Nations need borders. It's a matter of national security. And if you have borders, there is nothing wrong with setting rules about who can cross and who can't - and who is trying ti manipulate America's generous instincts with phony claims of political asylum. If you violate those rules, there ought to be consequences.
..... We learned these lessons in a bloody and violent way during hte 9/11 attacks when 19 theologically warped Islamist zealots gamed our all-too-lenient visa laws and carried out the deadliest terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, killing nearly 3,000 people.
..... Even though the CIA knew that at least two of the 19 killers were members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, we let them in anyway. No problem.
..... Fast-forward a quarter century. The debate over mitigation now is far more complex. Some of the estimated 14 million undocumented immigrants who live in the shows of America are hardened criminals and gang members. It's important to acknowledge that reality. (Sadly far too many naive immigrant advocates refuse to see that truth.)
..... but the majority of illegal immigrants came to America merely to find low-paying jobs. they wash dishes in restaurants, mop floors in warehouses, hammer nails at construction sites and tend to our lawns. Their goal is the same as many American citizens: they just want a better life. (Sadly, far too many anti-immigration advocates refuse to acknowledge that truth.)
..... How our government apprehends the folks whose main 'crime' was that they crossed the border without permission is the heart of the mitigation debate now. and this is where the mask issue comes front and center.
..... De we really need masked ICE officers to gab a father who is coming home from his overnight job at a gas station? or a mother, with two toddlers, who spends her days selling flowers on a ramp to the George Washington Bridge or snacks on the Times Square subway platform? Or the 20-somehting guy who pulls up in a landscaper's truck to run the leaf blower on our lawns?
..... Probably not.
..... Even if you agree that undocumented immigrates should be picked up and deported, why should the Mitigation and Custom Enforcement, or ICE officers show up on arrest raids wearing masks and looking like they are about to rob a bank or conduct a commando assault on a terrorist lair? Mitigation crackdowns don't need to take on the look of SWAT team operations or jewel heist crimes with masked robbers. But sadly, that is the image converted all too often by ICE.
..... A mask conveys many messages. but one message that the photographs of masked ICE agents do not convey is decency and fairness. Criminals wear masks. so do members of the Klan. that's not a good look for American law enforcement officers.
..... In making that point, I am hardly taking a radical stance. (So is that large MAGA reads.) The reality is that large numbers of Americans do not like what they see when masked teams of police show up to hog-tie and cart off some guy who sneaked into America merely to pick up blueberries at a new Jersey farm or wash dishes at a pizza joint. A Sinena University poll last month, [10/2025]found that while 53% of voters favor deporting immigrants who arrived here illegally, 53% say the methods used by immigration authorities to carry out deportations are not fair.
..... Those arrests generally begin with a team of ICE agents, most of them wearing masks. The agents often don't identify themselves by name, nor do they necessarily announce where they are taking an alleged immigrant.
..... This is what cops do in dictatorial banana republics. think Argentina and El Salvador in the 1980s, when secret police teams were grabbing teenagers and Catholic nuns and "disappearing" them. here, in America, we're supposed to be better than that.
..... But we're not.
..... Yes, some of these arrest by ICE agents involve hardened criminals, even so-called "narcoterroirist." But that still doesn't justify wearing masks. And certainly, when teams of ICE agents descend on a neighborhood to round up alleged illegals whoa er not suspected of any crimes except crossing America's borders without permission, why wear a mask?
..... Compare the ICE masking with the image converted by countless police in small towns or big cities across America when they nab notorious mass serial killers, mob bosses or major drug dealers.
..... No one wears a mask. The police who carry out these arrests are proud of their work. They wouldn't think of hiding their faces. Nor would they think of hiding their identities, or disclosing why they are arresting someone, or refusing to say where they are taking the person in handcuffs.
..... When police arrest a killer, a staged press conference often takes place, with the chief and the officers and detectives who made the arrest lined up in front of U.S. flags. they're not wearing masks. They're happy to be photographed - even proud. And if federal and state agencies are involved, photographers definitely need a wide-angle lens to capture the large crowd on stage.
..... When an especially notorious criminal is brought in, police and politicians are tactically elbowing each other out of the way to participate in the so-called "prep walk,' in which the alleged bad guy is handcuffed and escorted from a police station to a courthouse.

Do we remember John Gotti?

..... Think her of some of the arrest of mob boss John Gotti in New York City. As the head of the Gambino crime family, Gotti was an unabashed killer with a reputation for viciousness. No doubt about it.
..... Yes, the New York tabloid newspaper nicknamed Gotti the Dapper Don" for his coiffed hair, his form-fitting tailored suits and shoes that were never scuffed. But there little doubt that Gotti could command his boys to "take out" his enemies.
..... In other words, Gotti has a reputation for vengeance and retribution. Burley the cops who arrested him knew that.
..... But were the cops who took Gotti on "prep walks" afraid of being photographed?
..... Obviously not.
..... Gotti's prep walks sometimes took on the aura of a Broadway production. The cops grabbing Gotti's arms tried to convey the seriousness of the moment. Gotti, in handcuffs sported a confident smirk. You half-expected him to call out: "Hey, officer, I'm ready for my close-up."
..... More importantly, none of the cops wore masks. they knew their faces and identities would be known to mobsters everywhere - really dangerous people. But they also knew when they took the oath to become a police officer that they had to possess the courage to allow the American public to see photographs and video of them performing their public duty. It's the American way.
..... And so, in true American fashion, prep walks have become so common now in the age of instant video that you almost feel they are scripted, In fact, many are. Some police departments sue public relations representatives to help photographers fiend the best positions for the best shots.
..... In some cases, the photographers who have been waiting for hours on a cold sidewalk to photograph a prep walk are even given a heads-up on when the parade begins.
..... "He's coming out," an officer might say to the group.
..... In one case, I heard a photographer respond: "OK, it;s show-time."
..... In a strange way, it is show-time - in a positive sense. The American public gets a glimpse of police as they are presented as public servants, doing their jobs to keep a community safer. Nobody needs a mask. Nobody wants one.
..... The display of American;s new prep walk star, Luigi Mangione, who was charged with murdering a health care executive on a New York City street last December, [2025] offers many lessons that ICE agents could sue.
..... As an alleged killer, Mangione has attracted an unusual amount of sympathy. Some social media message broads and chat rooms even suggest that Mangione's alleged shot-in-the-back, cold-blooded murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, on a New York sidewalk was justified and that law enforcement authorities are treating him unfairly. Such a toxic cultural brew sets up the possibility of vengeance against police.
..... But did such a fear prompt the cops who investigated Mangione or escorted him on prep walks to war masks? No.
..... Every time Mangione moves through a public space - in particular when he is escorted down the hallway of a courthouse on the way to one of his many appearances before judges - a familiar photograph or video appears in the media. It usually shows the detectives who complied the evidence against him on each side, grasping Mangione's arms.
..... The detectives never wear masks. they wouldn't think of it. They're proud of their work - as they should be. They investigated a creepy murder. They're not afraid to let the world know who they are and what they look like.

So why are ICE agents masked?

..... Contrast that with the behavior by ICE agents, who almost always show up wearing masks, even to the most inconsequential arrests. Some also come in military camouflage uniforms - as if they were soldiers in a jungle.
..... For the most part they are arresting landscapers and construction laborers, often with wives and children.
..... And they need to be masked for this?
..... On its official website, in the section called "frequently asked questions," ICE says is agents were mask to "prevent doxing, which can (and has) placed them and their families at risk. All ICE law enforcement officers carry badges and credentials and will identify themselves when required for public safety or legal necessity."
..... Doxing is not a joke. A creature of the computer age, the process of doxing involves obtaining private information about someone and then circulating it as a form of harassment or as an implied threat. this information can range from private phone numbers to home addresses.
..... But this kind of thing is hardly new or modern, Yes, computers today allow for widespread "doxing." But threatening or harassing cops, prosecutors and judges is not new. Mobsters have tried it for decades. So have drug dealers.
..... Only now, with arresting immigrants, are large numbers of law enforcement officers wearing masks.
..... In the old days, it was a crime to threaten a police officer - or a judge and prosecutor.
..... American has similar laws to protect ICE agents. such laws should be used if needed.
..... In the meantime, remove the masks. Stop hiding.
..... If we've going to control America's borders, we need to act like Americans.

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