There's been a huge push by liberals to force ICE agents to take off their masks. California passed a law against it, but it's meaningless in light of the Supremacy Clause. But since this is the United States, there had to be a judge who could find a way to make wearing masks unconstitutional. A judge in West Virginia has ruled that when ICE agents use masks and unmarked cars when making arrests, they're violating the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures.
A federal judge from West Virginia concluded that when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers use masks and unmarked cars for arrests, it breaches the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, removing accountability and undermining due process. https://t.co/WJ7GfRcaZc
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) February 23, 2026
MetroNews in West Virginia reports:
When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wear masks and use unmarked vehicles to make arrests, a federal judge from West Virginia wrote, the tactics violate the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment by eliminating officer accountability and stripping people of due process.
“A mask does not stop a bullet. It does not deflect a blow. It provides no physical protection that the tactical equipment these officers already carry does not provide,” U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin of the Southern District of West Virginia wrote in an order this past week.
“A mask does one thing: it hides the face of the officer wearing it. On a public highway, in a civil arrest of a person suspected of no crime, the only purpose served by hiding an officer’s face is to prevent his identification. And preventing identification serves only to eliminate accountability.”
Recommended
No, it serves to prevent them from being doxxed by ICE Watch maniacs.
This will be overturned before the end of the day.
— Sean Spicier - Former Tango Dancer (Parody) (@sean_spicier) February 23, 2026
Ah yes the well known constitutional rule that is unmarked cars being a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
— Sunny (@sunnyright) February 23, 2026
Definitely not a clown show ruling from a hack judge.
A conclusion based on unhinged animus & ungrounded in any accepted legal reasoning.
— Big Jarhead (@big_jarhead) February 24, 2026
And he made up practically every word of his rationale. A complete invention by him. https://t.co/VlopTF4SYW
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) February 23, 2026
Every SWAT and HRT team in every police department across America will be fascinated to learn they've been operating illegally for their entire existence.
— 𝔻𝕠𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣 𝔽𝕒𝕥𝕖 (@georg3) February 23, 2026
Lawless fiction. Undercover officers make arrests thousands of times a year.
— Bart DePalma (@BartDePalma) February 23, 2026
I don't understand the reasoning presented here. Any mask worn by LEOs have zero impact on the due process of any of the warrants or arrests made, so long as the individual officers are clearly identified as LEOs. This is nonsensical on its surface and cites no known case law.
— Shotgun Moose (@shotgunmoose) February 23, 2026
Say what? Have to give the Judge an A for creative writing.
— B (@Jeffrey61690406) February 24, 2026
Undermining due process? How?
Something tells us this judge might be another liberal activist in a robe.
***