Original Date Announced

At a press conference, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons defended ICE officers who wear masks over their faces to hide their identities during enforcement operations. John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE under President Obama, said he never saw anyone wearing masks during his tenure, and he believes the practice began in March 2025.

Trump 2.0 [ID #1866]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.07.18 Reported: ICE head says he won't block agents from wearing masks - CBS News

ICE Acting Director Lyons tells CBS News that he is not a "proponent" of wearing masks, but he confirmed that he will allow ICE personnel to continue doing so.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

CA Senate - SB-805 requiring ununiformed law enforcement officers to display identification when performing enforcement duties

California Governor Gavin Newsom signs a law requiring all law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, who are not in uniform to visibly display identification when performing enforcement duties, subject to various exceptions.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.20 CA Senate - SB-627 barring masks for law enforcement

California Governor Gavin Newsom signs a law barring all law-enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from wearing a mask while operating in the state, subject to various exceptions.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.30. Order - American Association of University Professors v. Rubio

Judge William G. Young issued an order in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio, which challenges the separate administration policy of deporting students engaged in pro-Palestinian protests or activities, stating: "ICE goes masked for a single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence. . . . To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police. Carrying on in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it." Judge Young deferred ordering a remedy to a future order.

**Link to case here. Our litigation entries generally report only the initial complaint and any major substantive filings or decisions. For additional information, CourtListener provides access to PACER and all available pleadings. Other sites that track litigation in more detail or organize cases by topic include Civil Rights Clearinghouse, Justice Action Center, National Immigration Litigation Alliance, and Just Security**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.10.09 Reported: Federal immigration officers wear masks, no tags - now some drive cars without license plates - Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on four unmarked federal cars in Chicago without proper license plates. Illinois law requires all registered vehicles to display front and back license plates. However, DHS states it is complying with federal regulations for law enforcement, stating that “DHS is not going to confirm our vehicles and put an even larger target on our officers’ backs.” Use of unmarked and unidentifiable vehicles is the "latest sign ... of the ways in which federal immigration agents are shielding themselves from public scrutiny."

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.11.17 Complaint - United States v. California

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of California, challenging two state laws (SB-627 and SB-805) that prohibit law enforcement officers, including federal immigration officers, from wearing masks and that require such law enforcement officers to display identification when they are performing enforcement duties without uniform. Both policies are subject to various exceptions. The complaint alleges that the laws violate the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution by unlawfully regulating the federal government and discriminating against federal officers through imposing more stringent requirements on them than on state law enforcement agents. The federal government asks the court to declare that the state laws are unlawful and to enter preliminary and permanent injunctive relief barring the state from enforcing these laws against federal officers. United States v. California, No. 2:25-cv-10999 (C.D. Cal.).

**Link to case here. See litigation note above**