A masked-up federal agent on the ICE facility in Decrease Manhattan on June 9, 2025.
Picture by Dean Moses
A invoice to ban federal immigration brokers from sporting masks whereas making arrests is ready to be launched within the Home of Representatives by two New York Democrats, New York News has discovered.
Reps. Dan Goldman (NY-10) and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) plan to formally introduce the “No Secret Police Act” within the Home on Thursday morning. The invoice would prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement and different Division of Homeland Safety officers from concealing their faces throughout civil immigration enforcement and would require them to obviously show official identification and insignia.
The laws comes amid a string of ICE detentions at immigration courts in New York and throughout the nation, the place masked, plainclothes brokers have taken people attending immigration appointments into custody.
The NY lawmakers mentioned the brand new invoice goals to extend transparency and curb what they describe as intimidation techniques used in opposition to immigrant communities.
ICE has maintained that brokers put on masks to shield themselves and their households, however Goldman, who represents components of Manhattan and Brooklyn, contends that as a former federal prosecutor who has labored alongside ICE and DHS brokers to apprehend criminals, “none of them ever wore masks.”
“This isn’t about protecting law enforcement, it’s about terrorizing immigrant communities,” Rep. Goldman mentioned. “The United States is not a dictatorship, and I’m proud to introduce this commonsense legislation ensuring that our federal government’s laws are enforced by identifiable human beings, not anonymous, secret agents of the state.”
Final week, the New York Metropolis Bar Affiliation argued that ICE brokers sporting face coverings could also be violating federal immigration enforcement guidelines. It cited Title 8 of the U.S. Code, which states that officers should determine themselves “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so” throughout an arrest.
If handed, the No Secret Police Act would amend the Homeland Safety Act of 2002 to ban DHS officers from utilizing non-tactical, home made face coverings throughout enforcement operations. It could additionally require brokers to determine their particular DHS company, resembling ICE or Customs and Border Safety, and to show clearly seen uniforms or badges.
Exceptions could be made for well being or tactical causes, resembling throughout SWAT operations or in hazardous environments.
Congressmen Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler tried to examine the ICE detention middle in Decrease Manhattan on June 18 however had been turned away regardless of legally being permitted to take action and as a substitute ended up in a back-and-forth argument with a discipline workplace supervisor.Picture by Dean Moses 
“This is not Russia,” Congressmember Nydia Velazquez charged on Sunday alongside Rep. Adriano Espaillat after they are saying they had been denied entry to the place immigrants are being detained in Decrease Manhattan.Picture by Dean Moses
The invoice additionally instructs the Secretary of Homeland Safety, by the Undersecretary for Science and Know-how and in coordination with different DHS elements, to conduct analysis and growth to enhance the visibility of officers’ uniforms and insignia. That features creating applied sciences that maintain identifiers clearly seen beneath varied circumstances, together with completely different lighting, places and climate.
“If you uphold the peace of a democratic society, you should not be anonymous,” mentioned Espaillat. “DHS and ICE agents wearing masks and hiding identification echoes the tactics of secret police authoritarian regimes – and deviates from the practices of local law enforcement, which contributes to confusion in communities. If you are upholding the law, you should not be anonymous, and our bill aims to safeguard from tyranny while upholding the values of our nation.”
About 35 Home Democrats are anticipated to co-sponsor the invoice, together with Homeland Safety Committee member Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and New York Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Tim Kennedy.
New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver, who on Wednesday pleaded not responsible to Trump Justice Division expenses of obstructing brokers at an immigration detention facility in Newark, can be listed as a co-sponsor.
Advocacy teams, together with the New York Immigration Coalition and Make the Street New York, have endorsed the proposal, calling for its “swift passage.”
“ICE must answer to the people, and must identify themselves and the agencies they work for,” mentioned Natalia Aristizabal, deputy director of Make the Street New York. “This bill would be a step toward reining in their out-of-control and rogue behavior.”
Goldman, Espaillat and Nadler had been amongst a gaggle of lawmakers lately denied entry to the ICE facility at 26 Federal Plaza in Decrease Manhattan, the place immigrants have reportedly been held for a number of days.
They joined different members of New York’s congressional delegation final week in demanding that DHS reverse its steerage barring unannounced congressional inspections at ICE services, giving the company a deadline of June 30. Thus far, the DHS has but to answer the June 20 letter accusing it of violating the 2024 appropriations legislation.
