Protestors and ICE Agents Shouldn’t Be Wearing Masks

The debate over whether protestors and law enforcement should be wearing masks has now come to the NYS legislature.

State Senator Shelley B. Mayer announced she has co-sponsored proposed legislation in the New York State Senate to prohibit law enforcement officers, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents, from wearing masks or personal disguise while on duty or engaged in enforcement activities. 

Communities across New York, including Westchester, have recently seen loved ones, friends, and neighbors disappeared and harassed by ICE agents – often in undistinguished clothing, without identification, and with their faces masked. Since the beginning of the year, first-hand videos posted to social media show individuals and elected officials detained by ICE agents with their faces covered, and many often not identified as law enforcement officials. 

The Mandating End of Lawless Tactics (MELT) legislation, (S.8462/A.8908), recently introduced by State Senator Patricia Fahy and Assembly Member Tony Simone, will protect New Yorkers from impersonation or intimidation by federal agents, will increase transparency in law enforcement, and ensure ICE’s actions are not conducted with anonymity in New York. Senator Mayer joins her colleagues in fighting for ICE to be held accountable to the people. 

State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “It is absolutely unacceptable for ICE agents to conduct arrests in our communities while wearing masks that conceal their identities and without clearly visible identification. These practices undermine public trust, jeopardize public safety, and threaten the civil liberties that are fundamental to our democracy. In New York, we believe in transparency, accountability, and the rule of law. Our excellent police departments throughout New York State openly show their identification and are recognizable to the public. The conduct that is being promoted by ICE – using masked agents without clear ID – runs directly counter to the best practices of policing and public safety.

“As a State Senator representing diverse communities in Westchester, the granddaughter of immigrants, and someone who believes deeply in due process and the principles our nation was founded on, I stand firmly with our immigrant neighbors who are being unjustly seized and detained. I share in the anger, fear, and frustration felt by families who are targeted by the current practices of this Administration, which far exceed anything that was anticipated. Those who have been convicted of major criminal wrongdoing are rightly subject to deportation. What is not acceptable is the seizure and detention of thousands of people who are not violent criminals, or criminals at all, but simply those seeking a better life here in America. I stand in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors and remain committed to doing everything I can to protect them.”

Editor’s Note: If this bill passes, NY will join California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, who have introduced bills that would require federal officers to unmask.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said, “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.”

President Trump has tweeted, “MASKS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to be worn at protests,” but immigration advocacy groups have pointed to a double standard of seeking to ban protestors masks while allowing law enforcement to wear masks.

Many believe that this issue will end of in the Federal courts under the issue of free speech. Is masking a form of free speech that warrants protection under the First Amendment?

We believe that both protesters and law enforcement should unmask.