U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino ruled Monday that New York cannot prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks or require visible identification.
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A federal judge has blocked New York's law banning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing face coverings or requiring them to display visible identification, ruling Monday that the measures violate the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino for the Northern District of New York found that the state law conflicts with the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which bars state governments from regulating federal law enforcement.
"The issue now before the Court is about constitutionality—not transparency or preferable policy decisions," D'Agostino wrote in her ruling. She acknowledged that while New York "appears to be well-intentioned in its pursuit of transparent policing," the court's role was to assess the constitutional validity of the measures, not their policy merits.
The judge determined that the federal government has shown a likelihood of success in demonstrating that the measures violate the supremacy clause.
The ruling follows a pattern of similar judicial decisions. Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked a comparable law in California enacted after the Trump administration increased immigration arrests. Federal judges have also blocked similar laws in Virginia and Pennsylvania that sought to ban federal immigration agents from covering their faces. Those agents remain required to wear agency identification badges.
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