ICE defends that its agents are masked and in civilian clothes; “we need to protect their families”

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Todd Lyons, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on Monday defended the harsh tactics his agents employ in raids against immigrants across the country. Whether these raids take place in broad daylight on the streets of a sanctuary city, inside a state prison, or in an immigration court, far from the public eye, hundreds of agents from various federal agencies are carrying out what Donald Trump has called the largest deportation operation in the country’s history.

Lyons has advocated for the agents, who operate in plain clothes with their faces covered and, often, in unmarked cars. “I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” the official stated at a news conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

The ICE official claimed that activists against Trump’s immigration policies in Los Angeles filmed and posted on social media the faces of ICE agents who carried out a series of arrests of undocumented immigrants in the California city. “They and their families have received death threats on social media,” Lyons said.

The discomfort surrounding these operations is becoming increasingly evident. Todd Gloria, the mayor of San Diego, said he was “deeply upset” by a raid that ICE agents carried out Friday afternoon at Buona Forchetta, a popular Italian restaurant in the city. The actions by ICE officers, who allegedly arrived with an arrest warrant, became a viral scene that made the rounds on social media.