Magaziner Statement on DHS Dismissing Concerns About Masked ICE Agents

WASHINGTON, DC - Eight months after sending a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel warning that the practice of (ICE) agents wearing masks and not adequately identifying themselves to the public makes Americans less safe, U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) and colleagues on the House Homeland Security Committee received a delayed and unacceptable response from the Department of Homeland Security.

Magaziner released the following statement:

"I am appalled that after eight months, the Department of Homeland Security chose to ignore the very real dangers posed by ICE agents concealing their identities while conducting enforcement operations, including the multiple cases of criminals impersonating ICE Agents.

Agents wearing masks and obscuring their identity also makes it more difficult to hold ICE officials to standard accountability when they engage in misconduct, which has occurred frequently during the Trump Administration.

Every other law enforcement agency in the country requires officers to be readily identifiable to the public. ICE should be held to the same standard."

In a November 2025 letter led by House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (MS-02), Magaziner and a dozen members of the Committee requested an urgent briefing on a reported FBI memo urging ICE agents and other law enforcement personnel to "adequately identify themselves." The memo followed a series of disturbing incidents involving individuals impersonating ICE agents. The instances include:

• In New York, three men in black vests entered a restaurant claiming to be ICE agents. Inside, they tied a worker's hands and pulled a garbage bag over the person's head. Another, believing the burglars' story, surrendered themselves, only to be kicked to the ground and tied up as the intruders robbed an ATM.

• In Florida, a woman "unzipped [her] jacket and revealed a shirt that said ICE and told her ex-boyfriend's wife she was there to "pick her up," before driving her to an apartment complex. The woman later escaped.

• In New York, a man told a woman he was an immigration officer and "directed [her] to a nearby stairwell," where he punched her, tried to rape her, and stole her phone before police caught him.

Despite documented instances of individuals impersonating DHS officials, incidents the lawmakers cited in their letter, the Department of Homeland Security largely dismissed those concerns. In a brief response, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin wrote that ICE agents "identify themselves in a professional and responsible manner during encounters with the public."

Read the letter to Secretary Noem and Director Patel demanding a briefing on ICE agents wearing masks here.

Read the Department of Homeland Security's recent response letter here.