Untitled section

Under President Trump’s control, ICE and CBP officers hide their identities by wearing masks and other face coverings, failing to wear identifying uniforms, refusing to provide their names and badge numbers, and entering homes without warrants. Through government-sanctioned anonymity, officers evade accountability to the public, elected officials, and the courts. Under President Trump’s direction, his administration has actively refused to cooperate with and has intentionally hampered State investigations into abuses by Federal officers, withholding important evidence to shield officers from scrutiny for unjustified killings in Minnesota, Texas, and Maine. The masks worn by officers also inspire fear and instill terror in their victims and the communities in which the officers operate. As Judge William G. Young of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts explained: ICE goes masked for a single reason—to terrorize Americans into quiescence. … [M]asks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history, we have never tolerated an armed, masked secret police..