The FBI is reportedly calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to “adequately identify themselves” when interacting with the public, following a string of violent criminals impersonating immigration agents.
“Due to the recent increase in ICE enforcement actions across the country, criminal actors are using ICE’s enhanced public profile and media coverage to their advantage to target vulnerable communities and commit criminal activity,” the agency allegedly wrote last month in a bulletin obtained by Property of the People, a watchdog group. “This not only effects the victims and communities but also has broader negative consequences on law enforcement agencies.”
The memo, prepared by the FBI’s Office of Partner Engagement and New York Field Office, and first reported by WIRED, pointed to a series of concerning incidents carried out by individuals impersonating ICE.
These included an August robbery in New York where impersonators tied up staff, an April kidnapping in Florida, and a January incident in which a North Carolina man broke into a motel posing as an agent and threatened a woman with deportation if she didn’t engage in sexual acts with him.
The Independent has contacted the FBI and ICE for comment.
Under federal regulations, immigration officers are required to identify themselves and state a reason for arrest “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so.”
Throughout the Trump administration, immigration officers have worn masks, used unmarked cars, and adopted aggressive tactics during operations.
In response to these operations, prominent Democrats have called on immigration agencies to cease relying on masked officers and to identify officers accused of crossing the line.
“This is America. This is not the Soviet Union,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in June. “We’re not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s. And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified.”
In September, California passed a law banning ICE agents from hiding their faces during raids, though the Department of Homeland Security insists the state doesn’t have jurisdiction over federal agents on this matter.
Federal officials say the masks are necessary to protect agents from what they say is a spike in threats against federal personnel.
“I’ve made it known that I’m not a fan of the masks, right? Because if you look at the last administration, even after January 20, up until February, ICE officers and agents didn’t wear masks,” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in October. “It wasn’t until high-ranking elected officials like Hakeem Jeffries calls for the doxing of ICE agents.”
Under the Trump administration, immigration agents have used other tactics that previous administrations avoided for fears of eroding community trust, including abandoning a policy that limited arrests at sensitive locations like healthcare facilities and houses of worship.
The White House has also increased immigration partnerships with local police departments.
As The Independent has reported, states and universities have attempted to ban protesters from wearing face masks in the wake of widespread campus anti-Israel protests, a move civil rights advocates warn will stifle protest rights.
