The FBI is urging partner agencies to “adequately identify themselves” amid a string of cases in which those impersonating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers committed crimes, such as kidnapping and assault.
“Due to the recent increase in ICE enforcement actions across the country, criminal actors are using ICE’s enhanced public profile and media coverage to their advantage to target vulnerable communities and commit criminal activity. This not only effects the victims and communities but also has broader negative consequences on law enforcement agencies,” the FBI wrote in a bulletin.
“These criminal impersonations make it difficult for the community to distinguish between legitimate officers conducting lawful law enforcement action and imposters engaging in criminal activity, which damages trust between the local community and law enforcement officers.”
The Oct. 17 bulletin, obtained by the group Property of the People through a public records request, comes as ICE has conducted widespread raids, often with partner agencies, and in some cases masked officers have refused to identify themselves or their agency.
The bulletin lists five instances in which someone impersonated an ICE officer, in some cases to commit violent crimes.
In August in New York, three men robbed a restaurant and tied up its staff, with the victims initially surrendering to the robbers because they identified themselves as ICE officers.
In April in Florida, a man kidnapped a woman who agreed to leave with someone posing as an ICE officer, only to be taken to an apartment complex where she escaped.
In Brooklyn in February, a man posing as an ICE officer directed a woman to a stairwell where he punched her and then tried to rape her, ultimately fleeing the scene with her purse and cell phone.
And in January in North Carolina, a man posing as an ICE officer entered a woman’s hotel room and sexually assaulted her, saying he would deport her if she did not have sex with him.
The bulletin said law enforcement officers of all stripes need to “adequality identify themselves during operations and cooperate with individuals who request further verification, such as calling their local precinct to verify the officer’s identity.”
Neither the FBI nor ICE responded to a request for comment.
Critics have said the anonymity provided by masks and a lack of insignia not only creates opportunities for dangerous impersonations, but also shields actual officers with poor conduct.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, introduced a bill earlier this year that would bar masks and force officers to display insignia to identify themselves.
“If you uphold the peace of a democratic society, you should not be anonymous. DHS and ICE agents wearing masks and hiding identification echoes the tactics of secret police authoritarian regimes — and deviates from the practices of local law enforcement, which contributes to confusion in communities,” Espaillat said when the bill was introduced in June.
“Many immigrants come to America seeking opportunities, hope, and freedom to escape draconian practices, and under no circumstance should they, or anyone, fear being disappeared by masked and armed individuals in unmarked vehicles. If you are upholding the law, you should not be anonymous.”
Border czar Tom Homan has expressed mixed feelings on ICE officers wearing masks, and Trump administration officials have complained officers are being doxxed.
“These men and women put a gun on their hip and wear a Kevlar vest to go on the streets every day looking for the worst of the worst to make this country safer. Wearing a mask, if that protects them and protects your families, then that has to be done,” Homan said.
“I don’t particularly like the mask either,” he added later.
