Minnesota lawmaker wants to outlaw federal agents' face coverings statewide. St. Paul mulls its own ban

Josie Albertson-Grove, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jan 14, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS – A Democratic state legislator plans to introduce a bill requiring law enforcement — including the thousands of federal agents working in Minnesota — to show their faces on the job.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, said she does not expect federal agents would comply with any such state law, but hoped local police would see that face coverings are corroding the public’s faith in law enforcement.

“It’s critical in Minnesota that we have trust in law enforcement,” Port said, especially after the reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd. “Many local police departments have said what we’re seeing now from federal agents is destroying that trust that we have worked hard to build back.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says ICE agents wear masks to prevent protesters identifying them and publishing information such as their names and home addresses online.

Separately, city attorneys in St. Paul are drafting restrictions on law enforcement wearing masks, set for an initial public review Wednesday morning.

St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker said language around federal agents’ masks will be part of an expanded separation ordinance, which will further limit how St. Paul police can be involved in federal immigration enforcement.

The new Minneapolis separation ordinance, passed in December, does not ban masks, but states that city police working with “federal agents who lack clear agency identification and/or who are masked or otherwise concealing their identities or badges would be contrary to the values of the city and harmful to the trust and public safety of city residents.”

Activists yearn for federal agents in the Twin Cities to be held accountable for their violent tactics, especially since the killing of Renee Good. But the agents’ practice of covering their faces has made it harder to distinguish agents from each other.

The issue has been building for months before Good was shot. Agents in masks have worried protesters since the spring of 2025, when masked agents raided a restaurant on E Lake Street in Minneapolis.

The June 14 slaying of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, allegedly by a masked man pretending to be a police officer, was also on Port’s mind as she began work on the bill, she said.

Port said she plans to introduce the bill when the legislative session starts in February, and said she expects to easily find co-sponsors. State Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul, is expected to sponsor the House version of the bill.

But the legislators do not think the bill will change ICE practices in the Twin Cities, and do not expect local law enforcement to try to make federal agents comply.

“I’ll be honest with you. This bill we are working on about masks, it is for normal times,” Port said. “If these current federal agents don’t care about being within the law, this isn’t going to stop them.”

The bill would add to an existing state law that makes obscuring one’s identity a gross misdemeanor, but outlines exemptions for religious coverings, costumes for amusement and entertainment, medical masks and protection from the elements. Port said she wants the law to say that law enforcement officers cannot conceal their identities on the job, with additional exemptions for gas masks and tactical equipment.

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