The men behind the masks... Is this legitimate protection, or generating a climate of fear?

The rise of masked officers is controversial new ground in American life, as Deepti Hajela, of the Associated Press, reports

- 

IN A matter of months, it has become a regular sight around the United States immigration enforcement agents detaining people and taking them into custody, often as public anger and outcry unfold around them.

But in the process, something has disappeared: the agents’ faces, covered by caps, sunglasses, pulled-up neck gaiters or balaclavas, effectively rendering them unidentifiable.

With the year only half over, the covered face as deployed by law enforcement in a wave of immigration crackdowns directed by President Donald Trump's White House has become one of the most potent and contentious visuals of 2025.

The increase in high-profile immigration enforcement was already contentious between those opposed to the actions of Trump's administration and those in support of them.

The sight of masked agents carrying it out is creating a whole new level of conflict, in a way that has no real comparison in the US history of policing.

Trump administration officials have consistently defended the practice, saying that immigration agents have faced strident and increasing harassment in public and online as they have gone about their enforcement in service of Trump's drive toward mass deportation, and hiding their identities is for their and their families' safety to avoid things like death threats and doxing, where someone's personal information is released without their permission on the internet.

“I'm sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I'm not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons said last month.

Democrats and others, including the several state attorneys general, have pushed back, saying the use of face masks generates public fear and should be halted.