Federal immigration agents could soon be barred from wearing masks while detaining people in New York under a state bill targeting the recent practice of agents concealing their identities.

The proposal was introduced this month in response to recurring news images of arrests by masked officers in street clothes, with no clear signs of who they are. New York is one of at least three states, along with California and Massachusetts, now weighing mask bans for law enforcement officers in the midst of the Trump administration's deportation push.

Agents are said to be hiding their identifies to protect themselves and their families from retaliation due to an angry backlash against the stepped-up arrests of undocumented immigrants, some whisked away while making scheduled court appearances. Department of Homeland Security officials say assaults on agents have spiked, and some have had their faces and home addresses posted on the internet and displayed on posters.

But critics are blasting the concealment, comparing roundups by masked, unidentified agents to a secret police force in a totalitarian state.

Do ICE agents' masks keep them from being held accountable?

"We ought to have a policy where people who are acting on behalf of the federal government are identifiable," state Sen. Shelley Mayer, a Westchester County Democrat who co-sponsored New York's bill, said in an interview on Thursday, July 24.

Mayer said she's a strong supporter of law enforcement, and argued that uniforms and visible identification help build public confidence. She questioned why Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are being allowed to conceal their identities when local police officers do not, even though they face the same public scrutiny and can be held accountable.

"Regular police officers do things that people object to," Mayer said, noting the recourse that civilians have to get an officer's name and file a complaint. "I'm not sure why ICE is entitled to a very different standard, except for the intent of intimidation."

What NY bill would do about ICE masks

The proposed legislation would prohibit law enforcement officers at any level — federal, state and local — from wearing masks while on duty and interacting with the public, with several exceptions for their physical protection. Those exceptions include masks that are worn to ward off airborne diseases or prevent smoke inhalation, and protective face gear used by SWAT teams.

The bill also requires officers be clearly identified with their name or badge number of their uniforms.

The proposal — sponsored by Democrats in a Democratic-controlled legislature — was introduced after lawmakers finished their annual voting session. That means it's on hold until the Senate and Assembly return next January unless Gov. Kathy Hochul summons them back to Albany for a special session before then. There are no current plans for one.

Hochul declined to comment specifically on the bill during a recent press conference, but branded the arrests by masked agents as "abhorrent."

"You don't create this climate of intimidation by donning a mask, not identifying yourself and literally terrorizing people," she said.

Last year, Nassau County on Long Island banned the use of masks to conceal identity, a crackdown on people wearing masks at protests or during crimes. But County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, recently signed an order allowing an exception to that rule so federal agents may wear masks on the job — the opposite of what Democrats in Albany have proposed to do.

Does the federal government, ICE support a mask ban?

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in an recent TV interview that he accepted the use of masks if agents feel safer with them.

"I'm not a proponent of the masks," he said. "However, if that's a tool that the men and women of ICE to keep themselves and their families safe, then I'll allow it."

At the federal level, House Democrats also have introduced bills to ban masks and require identification for federal agents. But those proposals are unlikely to be taken up by a Republican-controlled Congress.