Take Off the Masks
When government agents hide behind masks to intimidate the people they serve, we’re no longer looking at law enforcement—we’re staring straight into the face of authoritarianism.
Last May, I asked a simple question: Why are ICE agents hiding their faces?
I wasn’t being cute. I wasn’t trying to stir the pot just for clicks. I was watching my country slip into something that looks a lot less like a democracy and a lot more like a dictatorship. I wrote what I saw, and I still see it today, only now it’s worse.
I’ll say what I said then. There are moments when masks make sense. If an agent is undercover in a violent cartel investigation, if there are credible, documented threats following a major takedown, I get it. Nobody’s saying we shouldn’t protect people doing their jobs.
But that’s not what’s happening here.
What we’re seeing across the country is different. It’s calculated. It’s planned. And it’s dangerous.
This Isn’t Law Enforcement. This Is Intimidation.
ICE agents, dressed head to toe in black military gear, face covered, voices raised, are swarming working people at construction sites and grocery stores. They’re kicking down doors like they're clearing a compound in Kandahar, not arresting a dishwasher in Los Angeles.
We’ve watched fathers tackled and punched in the parking lot of a Home Depot. Mothers thrown to the ground and cuffed in front of their kids at a local market. Families torn apart after showing up, voluntarily, to a scheduled immigration hearing. People doing what they were told to do, only to be betrayed by a government that treats them like enemy combatants instead of human beings.
And now we’re seeing guns pointed at American citizens for doing nothing more than filming in public. Let me say that again. American citizens are being threatened at gunpoint for exercising their First Amendment rights. Filming. Asking questions. Bearing witness.
This isn’t about security. This is about control. This is about fear.
It’s the Uniform, But It’s Also the Message
We all know what this is. Dressing up like a special ops unit doesn’t make you more effective. It makes you more intimidating. That’s the point. The agents wearing black balaclavas and tactical vests hanging off the side of trucks aren’t trying to blend in. They’re trying to send a message.
And here’s what that message says: Be afraid. Be silent. Don’t ask questions. Don’t film us. Don’t talk back.
If you do, we’ll slam you to the ground. We’ll point a gun at your chest. We’ll yank you out of your car or off the sidewalk or away from your kids, and no one will know what happened to you until it’s too late.
That’s not law enforcement. That’s authoritarianism.
This Is What Happens When Power Goes Unchecked
Let’s not pretend this is happening in a vacuum. This is Trump’s America in 2025, it’s Project 2025, and the goal is crystal clear. Terrorize immigrants. Silence dissent. Dehumanize anyone who looks different or dares to challenge authority. Turn the nation’s fear into a political weapon.
This isn’t new. We’ve seen it before. Authoritarian leaders always dress up cruelty as protection. Always. But there is nothing protective about storming a Latino family’s front lawn with AR-15s and ski masks. There’s nothing patriotic about bullying a landscaper at gunpoint in front of his coworkers. There’s nothing legal about threatening an American for using their phone to record a public servant in a public place.
And yet here we are.
It Has to Stop.
I’m a lawyer. I understand the need for safety. I believe in order. I’ve worked with law enforcement professionals who are brave, decent, and principled. But this? This is not about protecting the public. This is not about enforcing the law. This is about using the color of authority to instill fear and compliance in people who don’t have the power to fight back.
And the longer we allow it, the more normal it becomes.
We’re moving fast toward a country where uniforms have no names, badges are covered, and citizens are treated like enemy threats for simply existing. And if we’re not careful, we’re going to lose the very soul of the democracy we claim to be defending.
Let’s Be Clear
If you need a mask to arrest a guy clearing tables at a diner, you’re not protecting your identity, you’re protecting your cowardice.
If you need military gear to detain a mom dropping her kids at school, you’re not preserving order, you’re abusing it.
And if you’re pointing a gun at a citizen for holding a phone, you’re not doing your job, you’re violating the Constitution.
This is not strength. This is weakness disguised as dominance. This is what it looks like when the government turns against its own people.
Enough
It’s time to take off the masks.
It’s time to stop playing soldier on the streets of America.
It’s time to stop threatening, intimidating, and humiliating people who pose no threat.
Because the next time someone pulls that trigger, it won’t be a warning shot. It’ll be a headline. A tragedy. A funeral.
And it won’t be the masked agent who pays the price. It’ll be an innocent person. A worker. A parent. A neighbor. Maybe even a citizen. Maybe even your neighbor.
This is all bullshit. And I’m done pretending otherwise.
The only way we fix this is by flipping Congress in 2026. Let’s stop this madness before more people get hurt. Let’s bring back leadership that believes in law, in rights, and in people. Because right now, we’ve got none of the above.
Mitch Jackson, Esq.
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Take off the masks yes- also wear a badge with your name, drive in a law enforcement vehicle and show a warrant signed by a judge. And don't hit, punch , or scream. This is the American Gestapo ! The majority of these people being round up are not criminals, but they are treating them worse than animals. This is not the country I know -what training do these ICE agents to have?Are they really bounty hunters? Do they get paid by how many people they kidnap? I am so appalled by all this but if you're reading this that doesn't mean that I want open borders of course we need to have reasonable immigration for people to legally enter. But while they're here, we have to treat them as humans and afford them to process. That's what the laws require.