Over the last few months, there has been a drastic increase in the number of masked agents carrying out immigration enforcement nationwide. According to the ICE website, these agents wear masks “to prevent doxing, which can (and has) placed them and their families at risk.”

To remedy the fact that the public cannot see their faces, all officers are to carry their badge and credentials with them at all times, identifying themselves when it is required to assure public safety or to comply with the legal standard. But whether or not they actually do seemingly depends on the day.

While I won’t dismiss the severity of doxing or the harmful ramifications it may have on someone’s life or family, I don’t agree that federal agents should continue to be allowed to wear masks while carrying out this administration’s immigration enforcement plans because of the safety risks they pose to the public.

In the last few months, ICE officers have been carrying out immigration enforcement in unmarked vehicles, wearing masks and plainclothes, armed with weapons. They have been reported to break windows, tear-gas people and shoot into vehicles.

They’ve been seen breaking into homes, searching without a warrant and arresting citizens of this country, which is not their job. In many of these instances, the agents involved were wearing masks and not appropriately identifying themselves, or did not identify themselves at all.

With new reports coming in daily of these egregious behaviors, it’s difficult to be empathetic toward the possible doxxing of this caliber of agent. It is more important to be empathetic towards those who have been victim to this agency’s appalling process.

It speaks volumes when the safety and well-being of a federal agency and its members are placed above the needs of the people the agency is supposed to protect. Being able to wear a mask in the service of our government seems counterproductive.

The question I have is: if you believe in what you are doing, if you believe it is right and fair, if you are following correct legal procedure, why are you afraid to show your face?

The fear of doxxing seems underwhelming. ICE agents are federal agents. Doxxing is a federal crime. You have the support of the federal government if that happens.

It’s hypocritical of our government not to support all individuals involved in this process. Supporting your citizens would mean ensuring that these officers do not wear facial coverings. If that puts them at risk, the bare minimum is to require them to identify themselves appropriately. If there are reports of them not doing so, investigate. Hold your agency and its members to the same standard you would any person in America. Be consistent.

If there were not numerous reports of these agents constantly breaking the law, I don’t know if the public outcry to unmask ICE agents would be as loud. But to counter that point, if agents were not committing crimes themselves during the process, would they think it was necessary for them to wear masks at all?

The final public safety concern I have with the masks might be one of the biggest. How is Homeland Security ensuring that there are no rogue individuals parading as ICE agents? If there are unmarked vehicles, masks involved, plainclothes and consistent reports of lack of proper identification and illegal activity, how is anyone supposed to believe that these people are who they say (or don’t say) they are?

This administration’s immigration task force has a duty to protect this country. It has worked over time to persuade us that undocumented immigrants are the criminals. Yet in these last few months alone, it has employed hundreds of people who have allegedly been a part of several crimes, including destruction of private property, breaking and entering, illegal search and seizure, kidnapping, attempted manslaughter, murder, etc.

And these individuals remain at large because they are allowed to hide behind a two-layered mask: the one they wear on their own face when committing the crimes and the one the federal government gives them by not holding them accountable for their unlawful actions.