Federal Judge Blocks California’s Mask Ban Targeting ICE Agents

California was one of the first states to implement laws explicitly intended to combat ICE’s authoritarian tactics by banning federal agents from wearing masks. On Monday, a federal judge issued a block on that law shortly before it was set to take effect. 

According to the Guardian, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against California in November, claiming that ICE agents would be endangered if the law were to take effect.

“Denying federal agencies and officers that choice would chill federal law enforcement and deter applicants for law enforcement positions,” the Justice Department wrote in its lawsuit. The Justice Department also argued that the law was unconstitutional as it directly regulated the federal government. 

Judge Christina Snyder agreed with the latter assertion, ruling that since the law didn’t include state and local law enforcement, it discriminated against the federal government. Snyder did leave the door open for a revised mask ban to take effect as she wrote in her ruling that “the court finds that federal officers can perform their federal functions without wearing masks.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the ruling a “key court victory” in a post on X. “These federal agents are harassed, doxxed, obstructed, and attacked on a regular basis just for doing their jobs. We have no tolerance for it,” Bondi wrote. “We will continue fighting and winning in court for President Trump’s law-and-order agenda — and we will ALWAYS have the backs of our great federal law enforcement officers.”

It’d be nice if Bondi also had no tolerance for ICE unlawfully arresting U.S. citizens, ignoring release orders, and fatally shooting people extrajudically. 

California state Sen. Scott Weiner, the legislator who introduced the mask ban, said he intends to introduce new legislation that expands the ban to include state and local law enforcement. “ICE and Border Patrol are covering their faces to maximize their terror campaign and to insulate themselves from accountability,” Weiner said in a statement. “We will ensure our mask ban can be enforced.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement criticizing the Trump administration, writing that it “stepped well outside the boundaries of normal practice, deploying masked and unidentified agents to carry out immigration enforcement.” Bonta did celebrate a separate ruling by Snyder that upholds a law requiring ICE agents to visually identify themselves, saying that “Transparency and accountability are the foundation of good law enforcement.”

ICE’s use of face masks as they conduct their immigration raids has been a persistent source of controversy over the last year. Which is understandable as it’s hard not to watch masked, federal agents snatching people out of their cars, and not immediately think, “Oh, so we have a secret police now, that’s not good.” 

After the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, ICE and DHS funding have become a sticking point in Congress, with Democrats using a funding bill to significantly curb how ICE conducts itself. If the funding bill doesn’t pass in the next four days, funding will lapse for the Department of Homeland Security and its various subagencies, including ICE.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter to their peers demanding legislative action against ICE, including a core reform that prohibits “ICE and immigration enforcement agents from wearing face coverings.” 

While I, like many, have taken to calling ICE a bootleg Gestapo, I can’t help but think about a quote from Malcolm Nance in a recent video for NewsOne. “ICE is operating as a Gestapo. The difference is the Nazis did not hide their identity. ICE is hiding its identity,” Nance said. They are a secret police force that apparently is only answering to the director of Homeland Security and the president of the United States.”

Here’s hoping that Snyder’s ruling, despite being a temporary setback, ultimately leads to constitutionally sound mask bans being enacted on both the state and federal levels. 

SEE ALSO:

Black Americans: Pay Attention To The ICE Raids In Oklahoma

At Least 50 Arrested During Anti-ICE Protest Outside Federal Building In Minnesota