A Utah lawmaker wants the state to join California in barring immigration agents and other federal law enforcement officers from covering their faces while they detain people.
“It seems like good policy that if you’re a government agent, people should know you’re a government agent,” said Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Millcreek.
Blouin said Friday the measure is needed to make it harder for imposters to pass as agents so they can rob or attack people, like in recent cases in North Carolina and Philadelpia. He believes it would also ensure officers who overstep the bounds of their authority or injure people are held accountable.
He said there would be exceptions for undercover officers and likely for certain times where they might wear masks for medical or tactical reasons.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not reply to a request for comment Friday, but says on its website that its “officers wear masks to prevent doxing, which can (and has) placed them and their families at risk.”
The site says all ICE officers “carry badges and credentials and will identify themselves when required for public safety or legal necessity.”
Democrats in Congress and in statehouses in New York, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Michigan have proposed similar legislation.
The ACLU is working with Blouin on the Utah measure. Ellie Menlove, the organization’s legislative and policy council, said the move could strengthen trust between law enforcement and communities.
Blouin said he’s still in the early stages of crafting the bill and under no illusion it will succeed or even get a public hearing when the Utah Legislature, which has a Republican supermajority, convenes in January.
“If anything, it’s about sending a signal that we expect better out of federal law enforcement here in Utah,” Blouin said.
Also at issue is the question of whether the state can enforce a mandate on federal law enforcement agencies.
Blouin noted his Republican colleagues have asserted states’ rights in the past, pushing back against what they see as federal overreach. In 2024, the Legislature passed a law setting up a process to reject directives from the federal government they see as unconstitutional.
Sen. Todd Weiler, a Republican who chairs a legislative panel on law enforcement and criminal justice, said he has concerns about harassment and threats to ICE agents whose identity is revealed. Weiler, of Woods Cross, said he believes the measure would not hold up in court.
“It’s not the role of the state to tell federal agents or federal agencies how to do their jobs,” Weiler said. “That’s just not our role.”
He went on to say, “I think in a perfect world they shouldn’t be wearing masks. But we don’t live in a perfect world.”
Utah immigration attorney Christopher Vizcardo said he hasn’t seen any masked ICE officers when he’s dealt with the agency, and he usually knows who the officers are because Utah has a small number of agents.
“I think more transparency is not a bad thing,” Vizcardo said of Blouin’s bill. However, he added, “it’s hard to enforce that against federal officers. Our system doesn’t really allow for that.”
