Throughout the second Trump administration, Democratic political leaders have attempted to deny their open-borders stance while simultaneously trying to make immigration enforcement as difficult as possible. Such efforts ran into a recent roadblock in New York, where a federal judge struck down the state’s ban on ICE agents wearing facemasks.
District Judge Mae D’Agostino, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, accurately recognized that New York does not have the authority to regulate ICE, a federal agency. In issuing the ruling, she wrote, “New York cannot impose its own uniform requirements on federal agents simply because it disagrees with how the Federal Government is exercising its authority.”
Judge D’Agostino’s ruling comes after another federal judge blocked California’s mask ban on ICE, and as the Trump administration challenges similar moves in other blue states. She previously ruled in favor of a New York law that prohibits state and local law enforcement from working with the Department of Homeland Security, suggesting that there is a cross-ideological consensus on the mask bans’ unconstitutional nature.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul previously signed legislation attempting to ban ICE agents from wearing masks in May, allowing for misdemeanor charges if the new rule was repeatedly violated. According to Hochul, “From day one, I have been clear: Flagrant abuses of power by ICE will not stand in New York.” Of course, such laws aren’t actually designed to stop abuse, real or imagined – they’re designed to make it easy for left-wing activists to dox ICE agents and make immigration enforcement impossible.
While the Democratic Party’s left-wing base has revived calls for abolishing ICE as the midterms approach, ostensibly more mainstream figures in the party have ratcheted up their rhetoric since 2025 as well. In a now-common refrain, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz previously compared the agency to the Gestapo, and Rep. Dan Goldman, who serves New York’s 10th congressional district, similarly invoked lazy Nazi analogies during a congressional hearing.
If Democrats’ rhetoric is to be believed, they regard ICE as an illegitimate secret police force, not an agency they are seeking to cooperate with in good faith. Fortunately, if honest judges continue to overrule these unconstitutional mask bans, liberals will fail in their quest to dox the agency into submission.
