LA County Sheriffs arrest a demonstrator during a protest, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles (AP Photo/Ethan Swope
U.S. News What to know about debate over protesters and ICE agents wearing masks amid immigration crackdowns
By CHRISTINE FERNANDO, Updated 4:21 AM PDT, June 23, 2025
CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly called for mask-wearing at protests to be banned and for protesters whose faces are covered to be arrested, with the most recent push following demonstrations in Los Angeles over immigration raidsLegal experts told The Associated Press there are a variety of reasons people may want to cover their faces while protesting, including to protect their health, for religious reasons, to avoid government retaliation, to prevent surveillance and doxing, or to protect themselves from tear gas. With legislative action happening across the U.S., they say it’s only a matter of time before the issue returns to the courts.
Protesters, meanwhile, have voiced anger over footage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents covering their faces at immigration raids and masked officers at the Los Angeles protests, calling it a double standard.
Here are some things to know about the debate over face masks:
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At least 18 states and Washington, D.C., have laws that restrict masks and other face coverings in some way, said Elly Page, senior legal adviser with the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law. Since October 2023, at least 16 bills have been introduced in eight states and Congress to restrict masks at protests, according to the center.
Many of these laws date back to the 1940s and ’50s when many states passed anti-mask laws as a response to the Ku Klux Klan, whose members hid their identities while terrorizing victims. Amid protests against the war in Gaza and the Republican president’s immigration policies, Page said there have been attempts to revive these rarely used laws to target protesters, sometimes inconsistently.
