Masked Federal Agents Swarm American Cities

Masked men with guns are swarming through American cities in the name of enforcing immigration law. But there's no justification for federal agents to hide their identity from the public that pays for their weapons.

The sight has become disturbingly routine: armed federal officers in tactical gear, faces obscured, conducting raids and arrests across the country. What should alarm us isn't just their presence, but their anonymity.

The Defense of Anonymity

Republican Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina defended masked federal agents in a CNN interview, arguing that revealing their identities would endanger their safety. "I've seen people dox me. I've seen people take pictures and identify law-enforcement officers and then put their families at risk," Tillis said, suggesting that requiring agents to remove their masks would be "a step too far."

But Tillis's logic reveals how distorted American law enforcement has become. The concept of "doxxing"—traditionally meaning the malicious exposure of an ordinary person's identity and address with threats of harassment—cannot apply to public-facing government employees, especially those empowered to use force.

Police officers are civilians and public servants, not above the public. Being identifiable comes with the job, precisely because of the profound authority bestowed upon them.

The Numbers Don't Add Up

Ordinary police officers don't wear masks except in extremely rare circumstances, despite facing statistically greater risks than immigration agents. According to Alex Nowrasteh at the Cato Institute, "law enforcement officers who don't work at ICE or Border Patrol have a death rate 6.3 times higher than that of immigration enforcement officers."

In fact, immigration agents face no greater risk than regular people. The chance of an ICE or Border Patrol agent being murdered in the line of duty is about one in 94,549 per year—5.5 times less likely than a civilian being murdered.

If any law enforcement agencies are particularly ill-suited to anonymity, it's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Border Patrol.

A History of Corruption

From 2005 to 2024, nearly 5,000 CBP and Border Patrol officers were arrested, according to journalist Garrett Graff. The multitude of corruption-related charges can be found on CBP's own website.

"The crime rate of CBP agents and officers was higher per capita than the crime rate of undocumented immigrants in the United States," Graff writes. Statistically speaking, "worst of the worst" seems to describe CBP and the Border Patrol better than the people they're rounding up.

Now these same agencies have been unleashed on American cities, armed with masks and unprecedented authority.

Power Without Accountability

The consequences of masked immigration agents' extreme behavior extend far beyond statistics. The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot while documenting agents' behavior, represent a direct result of power without accountability.

On Sunday, ProPublica revealed the names of the two agents involved in the Pretti shooting: Border Patrol officer Jesus Ochoa and CBP officer Raymundo Gutierrez. The irony is grotesque—two Hispanic Americans killing a white person trying to prevent harassment of other Hispanic people, all on orders from Stephen Miller, whose Jewish ancestors fled Eastern European pogroms.

Legal immunity plus anonymity equals impunity. In this situation, agents could literally get away with murder.

The Broader Impact

Thousands of students in the Twin Cities have stopped attending school, hiding with their families. The majority of Somali and Hispanic residents in the area have legal status, but federal agents are indiscriminately stopping, detaining, and arresting people based on little more than accent or skin color.

"We've had many instances of people being stopped, family members of police officers being stopped that are American citizens," Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told The New York Times. "They're not stopping family members of folks who are Norwegian or Irish. That's not happening."

In Salem, Oregon, an American woman was hospitalized after reportedly being dragged from her car by immigration agents demanding papers. She joins dozens of Americans who have been physically abused or detained for extended periods by immigration agents.

The Purpose of the Mask

When you're asking men to essentially make war on their fellow citizens—to force lightly dressed people into frigid winter weather, detain elementary schoolers, and drag, tackle, or even shoot American citizens—telling them they can keep their identity hidden becomes useful.

The masks may work less to protect federal agents from danger than to make it easier for them to do unspeakable things.