Unmasking as Performance Art
State lawmakers want DHS agents exposed, but not rioters
By Dan Cadman on July 25, 2025
Amid the continuing interference, assaults, and attempted murders of ICE and Border Patrol agents, which has been encouraged by potty-mouthed legislators endorsing violence in the streets to “stand up to power” (such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently depicted ominously holding a baseball bat in his hand to declare his opposition to...something or other – his explanation shifted after criticism poured in), we get three pieces of performance art from sanctimonious lawmakers in California, New Jersey, and New York.
In each of those sanctuary states, bills have been introduced to forbid the agents from wearing masks as they go about their increasingly dangerous work (see here and here).
State lawmakers have no more authority to dictate whether federal officers are masked than they have to dictate what kind of firearms they carry or vehicles they drive. The standards and working conditions of federal officers are a uniquely federal prerogative. Surely, they know this.
https://cis.org/Cadman/Unmasking-Performance-Art