Federal immigration enforcement officials in the United States now commonly work masked and without visible identification, exacerbating the abusive and unaccountable nature of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, Human Rights Watch said today. The ill-defined and widespread nature of these practices is fundamentally inconsistent with US obligations to ensure that law enforcement abuses are investigated and held accountable.
“Law enforcement officers must be known to be responsible,” he said. Pilkey’s willassociate director for crises and conflicts at Human Rights Watch. “This kind of secrecy should be the exception, never the rule, and is even more troubling given the widespread abuses associated with immigration detention in recent months.”
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, his administration has implemented a process Arbitrary campaign of immigration raids and arrests, especially of people of color, across the country. Many raids targeted places where Latino people work, shop, eat and live. Agents have He took over People in the courts and in Regularly scheduled Appointments with immigration officials, as well as in places of worship, SchoolsAnd other sensitive sites. It was marked by many surprise raids Unjustified Use of force without any justification, creating a climate of tension He is afraid In many immigrant communities.
These immigration enforcement operations often involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks and, in some cases, plainclothes. Agents regularly conceal agency badges and use unmarked vehicles to detain people in their cars, in courthouses, schools, workplaces, homes, on the street, and on public transportation.
On its website, ICE Justifies Anonymity is widely practiced to “prevent defamation.” This kind of general, blanket justification for concealing officers’ identities is inconsistent with U.S. human rights obligations, except when necessary and proportionate to address specific safety concerns, Human Rights Watch said. When applied as a broad default approach, such measures act as an impediment to accountability that conflicts with US human rights obligations. Anonymity also weakens deterrence, enhances conditions of impunity, and discourages the exercise of rights.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 18 people who witnessed arrests or were detained by unidentified persons in five US cities since January 20. They all described the events as frightening, with a feeling that they would not be able to do anything if they were abused, especially with unknown clients. Human Rights Watch also reviewed dozens of videos to stop and Arrests Involve Masked Agents to publish on social Media.
In one example, on March 25 at approximately 5:15 p.m., at least six officers, all wearing plain clothes and riding in unmarked vehicles, without identifying themselves, confronted and stopped Tufts University graduate student Rumisa Ozturk, 30, who appeared to have been targeted for writing a letter. An opinion article in a student newspaper Calling on Tufts to “recognize Palestinian genocide“And withdraw from Investments linked to Israel. Ozturk, who has been living in the United States for six years, told Human Rights Watch about the incident, which was also recorded on a surveillance camera. Screenshots.
Ozturk was walking in the street when a number of masked people approached her, forcibly took her phone and backpack, and handcuffed her. Ozturk said that when she asked who they were and saw their badges, one said they were “police” and another showed a gold necklace, but she did not see a badge attached, and that did not help her identify them. In the footage, a bystander can be heard asking the agents: “Why do you hide your faces?” Ozturk said that she had not seen any papers justifying her arrest. She was then forcibly and illegally deported from the country detained.
“It was a terrible feeling,” Ozturk said. “I didn’t think they were the police because I had never seen the police approach and take someone away like that. I thought they were people who were harassing me, and I was really very afraid for my safety… As a woman who had traveled and lived alone in different countries for my studies, I had never felt so afraid for my safety – until that moment.”
“I’ve had experiences with agents who refused to identify themselves,” said one woman who has witnessed several raids and arrests in Chicago since August. “This adds another level of fear. These are not identifiable police officers who can be held accountable.” A Washington, D.C., man who has also witnessed several arrests by masked ICE agents since August said these tactics have “completely destroyed any trust we have in local and federal law enforcement.”
Many observers have suggested that the terror these tactics instill is deliberate. A U.S. District Court judge in A to rule That “ICE becomes masked for one reason – to terrorize Americans into quiet…and we have never tolerated armed, masked secret police.” The court rejected ICE’s stated rationale for the concealment as “deceptive, sloppy, and insulting.”
In recent months, the media have published reports of people posing as federal agents to kidnap, Sexual assaultand blackmail Victims, exploiting fears of immigration enforcement. This shows how the lines between criminals and law enforcement officials can blur when federal agents themselves cannot be identified, Human Rights Watch said.
numerous Countries They take steps to pass it legislation To restrict law enforcement officials from Hide they Identities During public interactions. These initiatives are unlikely to be implementable. At the proposed federal level Visible lawsupported by Senators Cory Booker and Alex Padilla, would mandate legible identification and prohibit non-medical face coverings for immigration enforcement officers.
Congress should investigate the brutality of ongoing immigration enforcement activities, including the specific effects of unidentified arrest and detention agents on obstructing investigations and accountability efforts, Human Rights Watch said.
“Allowing masked, unidentified agents to roam communities and arrest people without identifying themselves erodes confidence in the rule of law and creates a dangerous vacuum in which abuses can flourish, exacerbating unnecessary violence and brutality of arrests,” Willie said.
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