Federal agents with their faces covered patrol the halls of the immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on July 8, 2025, in New York City. ( Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
It says the intent of the legislature is to enact legislation "to require law enforcement officers to include their name or badge number on their uniforms," as well as to enact legislation to "ensure that Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team officers can utilize gear necessary to protect their faces from physical harm while they perform their SWAT responsibilities."
ICE acting director Todd Lyons defended mask-wearing by his agents during a May press conference announcing an operation had resulted in nearly 1,500 arrests across Massachusetts.
"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," Lyons during a press conference in Boston. "Is that the issue here that we’re upset about, the masks? Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?"
During an operation in Los Angeles weeks prior, Lyons said, ICE agents were "doxed" – having their personal information publicized – and people took photos of agents’ names and faces and posted them online "with death threats to their families and to themselves."
Most of those arrested in the Massachusetts operation had "significant criminality in the U.S. or abroad" and agents targeted "the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods of Massachusetts," officials said.
President Donald Trump speaks during a lunch with African leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Reacting to the Senate bill, President Donald Trump noted how demonstrators protesting ICE and other Trump administration policies don masks and other face coverings regularly to hide their identities.
"It's sort of funny when people picket in front of Columbia, in front of Harvard, and they have masks on – more than masks. I mean, you can't see anything. Nobody complains about that. But when a patriot who works for ICE or Border Patrol puts a mask on so that they won't recognize him and his family, so they can lead a little bit of a normal life after having worked so hard and so dangerously, there's a problem with that," Trump said Wednesday during a White House meeting with African leaders.
"This is the problem with the Democrats. They have a lot of bad things going on in their heads," Trump added. "They've lost their confidence, number one. And they're really – they've become somewhat deranged. I want to do whatever is necessary to protect our great law enforcement people. And they are right at the top of the list."
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The Justice Department told Fox News Digital on Wednesday it is actively tracking the recent uptick in "targeted assaults" against federal immigration enforcement agents and ICE facilities.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/massachusetts-bill-would-force-ice-agents-unmask