Judge rejects California’s ICE mask ban, OKs ID law

Border Patrol agents in full face masks in Los Angeles

(Image credit: Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

What happened

A federal judge in Los Angeles Monday struck down a California law that prohibited federal law enforcement agents from wearing masks but upheld a companion law that requires federal agents to display clear identification with their agency and badge number. California’s first-in-the-nation unmasking law, passed last year amid ICE raids, was paused before taking effect on Jan. 1.

Who said what

U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder rejected the Trump administration’s claim that California had no authority to set rules for federal agents, and she said in her ruling that “federal officers can perform their federal functions without wearing masks.” But the state law improperly “treats federal law enforcement officers differently than similarly situated state law enforcement officers,” she added. Snyder’s “split ruling allowed California Democrats and the Trump administration each to claim a partial win,” The New York Times said.

Along with “car windows being smashed, people tackled on city streets” and heavily armed agents seizing small children, the “images of masked federal officers has become a flashpoint” in the Trump administration’s ICE operations, The Associated Press said. “Experts said only perhaps during the Ku Klux Klan raids or in the Old West has masking been a more widely used tool” than by today’s Homeland Security Department, and “whether to ban the masks” has “emerged as a central question” as Democrats and the White House try to negotiate ICE reforms before DHS funding runs out Saturday.

What next?

Snyder’s ruling on the identification requirement takes effect Feb. 19. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D) said he would draft a new version of his mask ban to include state officers.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.