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THE ALARMING RISE OF US OFFICERS HIDING BEHIND MASKS: ‘A POLICE
STATE’  
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Interview by Sam Levin
June 25, 2025
The Guardian
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_ Mike German, an ex-FBI agent, said immigration agents hiding their
identities ‘highlights the illegitimacy of actions’ _

Masked ICE agents grab a man outside immigration court in Manhattan.,
Photo by Dean Moses/AMNY

 

Some wear
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Some wear
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gators, sunglasses and hats. Some wear masks and casual clothes
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Across the country, armed federal immigration officers have
increasingly hidden their identities while carrying out immigration
raids
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arresting protesters
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up
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Democratic critics.

It’s a trend that has sparked alarm among civil rights and law
enforcement experts alike.

Mike German, a former FBI
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widespread use of masks was unprecedented in US law enforcement and a
sign of a rapidly eroding democracy. “Masking symbolizes the drift
of law enforcement away from democratic controls,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has insisted masks are
necessary to protect officers’ privacy, arguing, without providing
evidence
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that there has been an uptick in violence against agents.

[Federal agents, some masked, some not, arrest a man]

Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, was arrested by Ice and
FBI agents outside federal immigration court in New York on 17 June
2025. Photograph: Olga Fedorova/AP

But, German argued, the longterm consequences could be severe. The
practice could erode trust in the US law enforcement agencies: “When
it’s hard to tell who a masked individual is working for, it’s
hard to accept that that is a legitimate use of authority,” he
noted.

And, he said, when real agents use masks more frequently, it becomes
easier for imposters
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operate.

German – who previously worked undercover
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supremacist and militia groups and is now a fellow at the Brennan
Center for Justice, a non-profit – spoke to the Guardian about the
dangers of officer masking, why he thinks officers are concealing
themselves and how far the US has deviated from democratic norms.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

WERE YOU SURPRISED BY THE FREQUENT REPORTS OF FEDERAL OFFICERS
COVERING THEIR FACES AND REFUSING TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES, ESPECIALLY
DURING THE RECENT IMMIGRATION RAIDS AND PROTESTS IN LOS ANGELES?

It is absolutely shocking and frightening to see masked agents, who
are also poorly identified in the way they are dressed, using force in
public without clearly identifying themselves. Our country is known
for having democratic control over law enforcement. When it’s hard
to tell who a masked individual is working for, it’s hard to accept
that that is a legitimate use of authority. It’s particularly
important for officers to identify themselves when they are making
arrests. It’s important for the person being arrested, and for
community members who might be watching, that they understand this is
a law enforcement activity.

[close up of a masked federal agent]

Protesters are seen reflected in the sunglasses of a marine outside
the Federal Building in Los Angeles on 14 June 2025. Photograph:
Ringo Chiu/AFP/Getty Images

IS THERE ANY PRECEDENT IN THE US FOR THIS KIND OF WIDESPREAD LAW
ENFORCEMENT MASKING?

I’m not aware of any period where US law enforcement officials wore
masks, other than the lone ranger, of course. Masking has always been
associated with police states. I think the masking symbolizes the
drift of law enforcement away from democratic controls. We see this
during protests. We see this in Ice raids. And we see this in the
excessive secrecy in which law enforcement has increasingly operated
since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

HOW DOES MASKING FIT INTO THE POST-9/11 TRENDS IN AMERICAN POLICING?

After 9/11, there were significant changes to the law – the Patriot
Act, expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, changes
to FBI guidelines – that allowed mass warrantless surveillance.
Those changes rolled back reforms that had been put in place to
address law enforcement abuses, including the targeting of disfavored
political activists. As the federal government greatly expanded its
authority, state and local law enforcement adopted a similar approach
they called “intelligence-led policing”. That included the
creation of “fusion centers”, in which state, local and federal
law enforcement share information with each other and private sector
entities. Roughly 80 fusion centers
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today, and there is very little oversight and regulation, and they
operate under a thick cloak of secrecy, often targeting disfavored
protest groups. Once police think of themselves as domestic
intelligence agents rather than law enforcement sworn to protect the
public, it creates this attitude that the public doesn’t have a
right to know what they’re doing. And now that includes even hiding
their identities in public.

WHY DO YOU THINK SOME OFFICERS ARE MASKING?

[CBP officers firing at community members in Los Angeles, California.]

CBP officers shoot ‘less-lethal’ ammunitions at community members
pushing back against their attempt to raid a store in Los Angeles,
California. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images

I have not had conversations with current officers, but I imagine some
are masking because they don’t normally work for Ice or do
immigration enforcement, but are now being sent to do these jobs. [The
Trump administration has diverted
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federal officers from agencies like the FBI, Drug Enforcement
Administration
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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to support
Ice, reportedly pushing agents
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would be tackling violent crimes
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instead handle civil immigration violations]. When these officers go
home at night, they may not want people in their communities to know
it was them. Maybe they have upstanding reputations because of the
work they do for the FBI or ATF, and they don’t necessarily want to
be identified with this kind of indiscriminate targeting of
immigrants. And that reluctance to be identified as engaging in those
activities really highlights the illegitimacy of those actions.

ARE THERE CONCERNS ABOUT HAVING MASKED OFFICERS FROM OTHER AGENCIES
WORKING FOR ICE?

Officers from other federal law enforcement agencies are used to
operating within specific authorities, and they may not recognize that
Ice enforcement actions don’t necessarily allow for those same
actions. When an FBI or ATF agent is seeking to arrest someone, they
typically have a warrant signed by a judge and can go after that
person even on private property. Ice’s civil enforcement powers
don’t give them that authority. If Ice doesn’t have a judicial
warrant, they can’t go into someone’s home. So if the FBI is doing
Ice enforcement, they have to understand their authority is limited in
important ways in order to not violate the law. That’s also why
it’s critical for agents to identify what agency they are with.
Otherwise, it’s hard to understand under what authority an action is
being taken. Who is this person shoving a member of the public who is
just asking questions?

HISTORICALLY, WHAT ARE THE BASIC STANDARDS AND TRAINING FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT SHOWING THEIR FACES?

I’m not aware of any general authority authorizing an agent not to
identify themselves during public law enforcement activity. As a
former FBI undercover agent, I tried to avoid getting my picture taken
as much as possible. But it is a small number of individuals who
engage in undercover operations who would require any kind of masking,
and they have the option of not participating in arrests where they
are going to be in public.

[People hold a Mexican flag out the window of a car towards police
officers]

People hold a Mexican flag out the window of a car during a protest
against immigration raids in New York on 10 June 2025. Photograph:
Julius Constantine Motal/The Guardian

A lot of training is about police safety. And part of that safety is
having a clear indication that you are a law enforcement official when
you’re engaging in some type of activity that could involve use of
force or arrest, including protest management. The badge was intended
to protect the officer, to make it clear you’re acting under the
authority of the law and not just shoving somebody you don’t like.
As an FBI agent, if I was going to talk to a member of the public,
I’d identify myself and display my credentials. It was routine. And
anytime I would write up the interview for evidentiary purposes, the
first thing I’d write was, I identified myself and let them know the
purpose of the interview.

DO YOU THINK LAWMAKERS CAN ADDRESS THIS ISSUE WITH LEGISLATION? SOME
DEMOCRATIC US SENATORS HAVE PUSHED
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TO REQUIRE THAT AGENTS IDENTIFY THEMSELVES, AND CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS
HAVE INTRODUCED STATE LEGISLATION TO BAN LAW ENFORCEMENT FROM MASKING
ON DUTY
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ARGUING PUBLIC SERVANTS HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO SHOW THEIR FACES – AND
NOT OPERATE LIKE STAR WARS STORMTROOPERS
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Having clear laws, regulations and policies that require law
enforcement to operate in an accountable fashion is critical. But a
lot of this is about leadership. Law enforcement leaders are
justifying masking as some dubious security measure instead of
ensuring officers act in a professional manner at all times and
holding them accountable when they don’t. That has been a
significant problem over time when police engage in illegal or
unconstitutional activity.

It’s great when federal, state or local legislators pass laws
requiring accountability, but those measures cannot be successful if
police aren’t expected by their own leaders to abide by those rules.

WHAT ARE THE ONGOING CONSEQUENCES OF OFFICERS HIDING THEIR FACES?

[Protesters clash with federal agents]

Protesters clash with federal agents as they block the entrance of
Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on 13 June
2025. Photograph: Andrés Kudacki/Getty Images

The recent shootings of two Democratic lawmakers
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Minnesota, by a suspect who allegedly impersonated
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officer, highlights the danger of police not looking like police.
Federal agents wearing masks and casual clothing significantly
increases this risk of any citizen dressing up in a way that fools the
public into believing they are law enforcement so they can engage in
illegal activity. It is a public safety threat, and it’s also a
threat to the agents and officers themselves, because people will not
immediately be able to distinguish between who is engaged in
legitimate activity or illegitimate activity when violence is
occurring in public.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO DO WHEN THEY’RE NOT SURE IF AN OFFICER
IS LEGITIMATE?

That question highlights the box that these tactics put Americans
into. When they are not sure, the inclination is to resist, and that
resistance is used to justify a greater use of force by the officers,
and it creates this cycle that is harmful to people just trying to
mind their business. And that can mean that these individuals are not
just subject to use of force and very aggressive arrests on civil
charges, but they could also face more serious criminal charges. The
more illegitimate police act, the more resistance to their activities
will result. And if the public doesn’t trust officers, it becomes
very difficult for them to do their jobs.

_Sam Levin is a correspondent for Guardian US, based in Los
Angeles. Click here
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Sam's public key. Twitter @SamTLevin
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* Immigration Detention
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* ICE arrests;
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* masks
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* police state
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