Their faces covered during Minneapolis raid, federal agents raise privacy worries

Many of the federal law enforcement agents who raided a Minneapolis Mexican restaurant did so with their identities concealed, their faces covered by black or American-flag print masks.

That drew insults from the crowd that gathered Tuesday outside Las Cuatros Milpas as word of the raid spread. The practice has come under scrutiny around the country in recent months, as federal authorities carry out law enforcement priorities of the Trump administration.

Local and federal officials say the raid involved a wide-ranging investigation involving illicit drugs and money laundering. Multiple federal agencies were at the scene, including agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI.

Videos posted to social media show protesters repeatedly questioning the agents’ use of masks. “Lower your mask!” one woman yelled repeatedly in a video posted to BlueSky.

“No one’s got their names, no one’s got their faces showing!” another yelled in a separate video. “Losers and cowards!”

A reader emailed the Star Tribune reporter who covered the raid: “If they are doing legitimate work, why are they covering their faces? ... I don’t remember this in the past and as a citizen, and particularly as a woman, it makes me nervous about how I would know if someone was a legitimate police officer if they are hiding their faces.”

The same question arose Monday after masked agents with ICE raided a restaurant in San Diego.

Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, discussed the rationale for masks during a news conference in Boston to announce nearly 1,500 arrests in the region as part of a monthlong “surge operation.”

“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my agents go out there and put their lives ... their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” Lyons said. ICE agents and their families have received death threats, he said.

“Is that the issue here, that we’re just upset about the masks? Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?” Lyons said. After a Friday raid of a restaurant in the city, San Diego City Council Member Sean Elo-Rivera described the incident as “state-sponsored terrorism.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted on social media last month that “when our heroic law enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly identify themselves as police while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by known and suspected gang members, murders, and rapists.”

Local elected officials expressed disgust about federal masked agents raiding businesses and making arrests.

“ICE showing up in the heart of one of our vibrant immigrant communities alongside local law enforcement causes grievous and irreparable harm,” read a statement Wednesday afternoon from County Attorney Mary Moriarty. “Across the country, ICE is conducting masked abductions of people who are at university, entering courthouses, and working and contributing to this country. ICE is being deployed to terrorize people.”

North Side City Council Member Jeremiah Ellison posted on social media that “witnessing government officials (police) cover their faces is also surreal. A person that works for taxpayers, carries a gun, and is legally empowered to kill you covers their face? The cowardice is staggering.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., criticized the concealed faces of ICE agents who detained immigrants last week in the lobby of the federal building that also houses his Manhattan district office.

“These officers were carrying printed-out papers with immigrants’ names and faces, wearing masks, and attempting to intimidate reporters on site,” a statement from Goldman read, “all while avoiding questions I asked them as a duly-elected member of Congress carrying out my oversight responsibilities as a member of the Homeland Security Committee.”

Abby Simons and Kyeland Jackson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story, which also contains material from the Associated Press.