U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin of the Southern District of West Virginia recently ruled on a case filed by Anderson Jesus Urquilla-Ramos, who was arrested by masked ICE agents in West Virginia. In his ruling, Judge Goodwin called out the unconstitutional tactic that ICE agents are using to conceal their identity when conducting official business.
“A mask does not stop a bullet. It does not deflect a blow. It provides no physical protection that the tactical equipment these officers already carry does not provide. A mask does one thing: it hides the face of the officer wearing it,” Judge Goodwin wrote in his decision. “On a public highway, in a civil arrest of a person suspected of no crime, the only purpose served by hiding an officer’s face is to prevent his identification. And preventing identification serves only to eliminate accountability.”
