St. Paul announced plans after masked ICE agent fatally shot Renée Good
The Justice Department on Thursday filed lawsuits against St. Paul, Minn., and Portland, Ore., challenging local measures that bar federal law enforcement officers from wearing face masks and require them to display identification. Federal lawyers argue the laws violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by attempting to regulate federal operations, which the department says state and local governments lack the authority to do.
The pair of suits brings the Justice Department’s legal challenges in the dispute to 11 against state and local laws that ban federal law enforcement officers, including immigration agents, from wearing face masks and require them to identify themselves. Last week, the department filed a similar lawsuit against the city of Denver.
The cases come amid intensified federal immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s second administration. At least eight states and nine local jurisdictions have enacted laws restricting law enforcement officers from concealing their identities, including mask bans and requirements that they display identification, according to UPI.
Lawmakers in favor of the measures argue residents have the right to know who is detaining and arresting them. Opponents, including the Trump administration, say the laws threaten the safety of federal agents and their families.
The two ordinances took different local paths. Portland City Councilor Sameer Kanal proposed the city’s mask ban and identification requirement in September 2025. St. Paul officials announced plans for similar measures on Jan. 21, two weeks after a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renée Good, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis.
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her signed the city’s mask ban into law in February, criticizing ICE for “causing confusion and undermining the relationship between the community and local police by obscuring their faces.”
The cities enforce the restrictions differently. Portland authorizes the city to pursue a civil enforcement remedy, while St. Paul has made noncompliance a misdemeanor offense, punishable by imprisonment or a fine or both.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. said in a statement: “Under the Supremacy Clause of our Nation’s Constitution, states and localities cannot regulate the federal government and its law enforcement officers. And they certainly cannot enact laws that place the safety of federal law enforcement at risk and undermine federal operations authorized by Congress.”
Scott Bradford, U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon, said in a statement: “Aside from being unconstitutional, laws like these impede federal law enforcement’s ability to keep Oregonians safe and endanger the brave men and women of federal law enforcement.” Bradford also said: “They live in our communities. Their kids go to school in our communities. They care about our communities. They are part of our communities. It is unfair and improper to vilify them for political purposes.”