Overview

• The Senate’s “No Secret Police Act,” filed June 16, would bar California law enforcement and ICE from covering their faces during operations.
• Department of Homeland Security officials argue masks shield agents from retaliation by known or suspected gang members and violent criminals.
• Opponents warn anonymity hampers accountability and lets officers evade identification in high-profile immigration raids.
• At least 18 states and Washington, D.C., already enforce anti-mask statutes targeting protesters, and legislators are now extending scrutiny to law enforcement.
• Constitutional experts say unresolved First Amendment questions about anonymous speech for officers and demonstrators could end up before the courts.