Masks emerge as symbol of Trump's ICE crackdown and a flashpoint in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — Beyond the car windows being smashed, people tackled on city streets — or even a little child with a floppy bunny ears snowcap detained — the images of masked federal officers has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

Not in recent U.S. memory has an American policing operation so consistently masked its thousands of officers from the public, a development that the Department of Homeland Security believes is important to safeguard employees from online harassment. But experts warn masking serves another purpose, inciting fear in communities, and risks shattering norms, accountability and trust between the police and its citizenry.

Whether to ban the masks — or allow the masking to continue — has emerged as a central question in the debate in Congress over funding Homeland Security ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline, when it faces a partial agency shutdown.

“Humans read each others’ faces — that’s how we communicate,” said Justin Smith, a former Colorado sheriff who is executive director and CEO of the National Sheriffs' Association.

“When you have a number of federal agents involved in these operations, and they can’t be identified, you can’t see their face, it just tends to make people uncomfortable,” he said. “That’s bringing up some questions.”

Masks on federal agents have been one constant throughout the first year of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation.

What began as a jarring image last spring, when plain-clothed officers drawing up their masks surrounded and detained a Tufts University doctoral student near her Massachusetts home, has morphed into familiar scenes in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities. The shooting deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers during demonstrations against ICE raids in Minneapolis sparked widespread public protest and spurred lawmakers to respond.

“Cameras on, masks off” has become a rallying cry among Democrats, who are also insisting the officers wear body cameras as a way to provide greater accountability and oversight of the operations.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at the Capitol that unmasking the federal agents is a “hard red line” in the negotiations ahead.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says on its website that its officers “wear masks to prevent doxing, which can (and has) placed them and their families at risk. All ICE law enforcement officers carry badges and credentials and will identify themselves when required for public safety or legal necessity.”

Fueled with funds from the Trump’s big tax cuts bill, which poured some $170 billion into Homeland Security, ICE has grown to become among the largest law enforcement operations in the nation. Last year, it announced it had more than doubled its ranks, to 22,000, with rapid hiring — and $50,000 signing bonuses. Homeland Security did not respond to an emailed request for further comment.

Most Republicans say the current political climate leaves the immigration officers, many of them new to the job, exposed if their faces and identities are made public.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he just can't agree with Democrats' demand that officers unmask themselves.

“You know, there’s a lot of vicious people out there, and they’ll take a picture of your face, and the next thing you know, your children or your wife or your husband are being threatened at home,” he said. “That’s just the reality of the world that we’re in.”

It appears no other policing agency in the country regularly uses masking on a widespread basis. Instead, masks are used during special operations, particularly undercover work or at times during large crowd control or protest situations, and when there is inclement weather or individual health concerns.

Experts said only perhaps during the Ku Klux Klan raids or in the Old West has masking been a more widely used tool.

"It is without precedent in modern American history,” said the American Civil Liberties Union’s Naureen Shah in Washington.

She said the idea of masked patrols on city streets seeking immigrants can leave people scared and confused about who they are encountering — which she suggested is part of the point.

“I think it’s calculated to terrify people,” she said. “I don’t think anybody viscerally feels like, OK, this is something we want to become a permanent fixture in our streets.”

Toward the end of the first Trump administration, Congress sought to clamp down after masked federal agents showed up in 2020 to quell protests in Portland and other cities. A provision requiring agents to clearly identify themselves was tucked into a massive defense authorization bill that Trump signed into law.

Last year, California became the first state in the nation to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces. The Trump administration's Justice Department sued, saying the state's policies “create risk” for the agents.

Smith, of the sheriffs' association, said there’s no easy answer to the current masking debate.

He suggested perhaps a middle ground could be reached — one that would allow officers to wear masks, but also require their badge or other identifying numbers to be prominently displayed.

Advocates said while unmasking the federal agents would be an important step, other restraints on immigration enforcement operations may be even more so.

They are pushing Congress to curb the ability of ICE officers to rely on administrative warrants in immigration operations, particularly to enter people’s homes, insisting such actions should be required to use judicial warrants, with sign off from the courts.

There is also an effort to end roving patrols — the ability of immigration officers to use a person’s race, language or job location to question their legal status, sometimes called "Kavanaugh stops" after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurring opinion to a Supreme Court decision last summer.

Greg Chen, senior director of government affairs at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said because Congress gave Homeland Security such robust funding in the tax cuts bill, "That’s why the policy reforms are so important right now to bring the agency in check.”

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who recently returned from Minnesota, said the weight of the masked enforcement operation can be felt in ways that impact everyone — regardless of a person’s own immigration status.

“It’s a very a heavy presence of surveillance and intimidation," she said. “No one is exempt.”

FILE - Federal immigration enforcement agents shatter a truck window and detain two men outside a Home Depot in Evanston, Ill., Dec. 17, 2025. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)

FILE - Observers film while federal agents conduct immigration enforcement operations Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy, File)

FILE - A gas mask and goggles are seen attached to a Customs and Border Protection officer's leg outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, Oct. 4, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

FILE - Police and federal officers throw gas canisters to disperse protesters near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)

FILE - Federal agents conduct immigration enforcement operations Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The early Bird had to circle Yankee Stadium.

Jake Bird arrived at 8:15 a.m. Friday, more than five hours before the start of his first game in pinstripes. The gate where New York Yankees players usually enter wasn't yet open and he was told to enter from the other side of the ballpark, at Gate 6.

“I just walked around,” the relief pitcher said. "It was a nice foggy morning.”

Eight months after the Yankees acquired him from Colorado, Bird pitched in the Bronx for the first time Friday. He struck out two in a perfect seventh inning of an 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins in New York's home opener.

Bird credited Natalie Girard for recommending he account for possibly congested streets when he called for Uber pickup at his Manhattan hotel.

“My girlfriend is really familiar with New York, so she was kind of telling me, `Hey, there might be traffic in the morning, so you should get there early,'” Bird recalled. “Also, I didn’t really know where to enter the stadium and stuff and I’ve been in that spot before where I kind of got lost, so just it didn’t hurt to get here a little early and kind of familiarize myself with the place.”

Hours later, he entered with a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning. Bird retired Otto Lopez on a flyout, threw a called third strike past Owen Caissie and struck out Connor Norby.

Bird pumped both arms and screamed.

“He had a little emotional release after getting that third out,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He was, again, really sharp, man, and went right through the middle of their order. Right, left, left was efficient.”

Bird was dealt by the Rockies for a pair of prospects last July 31, made three relief appearances on the road, the last in Texas ending with Josh Jung's three-run, walk-off homer, and was sent to Triple-A for the rest of the season.

“I know last year it didn’t really work out the way he wanted,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said, “He’s a guy that wants to be here. He wants to be great and I think after going through last year he knows the expectations now and he’s ready to go.”

Bird has allowed one hit over 4 1/3 scoreless innings in four games this season, striking out five and walking none.

“I’m just trying to stay closed and not fly open,” he said. “I know my slider and my breaking balls have been really good and fastball is a weak point at times, so just trying to build on the breaking balls as a strength and trying to improve the fastball, as well.”

An economics major at UCLA, Bird was taken by the Rockies on the fifth round of the 2018 amateur draft and made his big league debut in 2022. He has a 4.68 ERA with 221 strikeouts in 236 2/3 innings.

“Opening day is amazing," he said, “experience it here for the first time was really cool.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

New York Yankees' pitcher Jake Bird walks back to dugout during the sixth inning of a home-opener baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Friday, April 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)