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Senior Trump administration officials defended the use of masks and other facial coverings by federal immigration enforcement officers, citing a sharp increase in assaults and violent threats against agents amid the administration’s hard-line immigration crackdown.
White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday defended the use of masks and other facial coverings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as necessary to protect agents from a rise in assaults and violent threats reported by the Department of Homeland Security.
"I don't like the masks, either," Homan said in an interview Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation." Still, he said, "these men and women have to protect themselves."
His remarks come as Democrats in Congress have sharply criticized ICE agents’ actions in recent months, including the deployment of officers to major U.S. cities — Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis — as part of Trump’s broader immigration enforcement effort.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged Republicans earlier this month to order the unmasking of ICE agents, describing the step as one of many "guardrails" needed to protect the public and earn their support in resolving the DHS shutdown.
Jeffries last week told reporters in the Capitol that unmasking federal agents is a "hard red line" for Democrats as Congress debated funding for DHS and ultimately failed to come to an agreement, the Associated Press reported.
The Trump administration has cited concerns about the number and severity of threats against ICE officers and has vowed to aggressively prosecute individuals who target agents or solicit violence.
Homan pointed to DHS reports from January citing a 1,500% increase in assaults against ICE personnel. Violent threats against ICE officers have also soared by a staggering 8,000%, according to data shared by the Department of Homeland Security in October.
The release from DHS ticked through a number of violent threats that have been made against ICE personnel and their family members, including a voicemail left for the spouse of a Texas-based immigration officer.
"I don’t know how you let your husband work for ICE, and you sleep at night … I hope your kids get deported by accident," the voicemail said. "How do you sleep? …. Did you hear what happened to the Nazis after World War II? Because it’s what’s going to happen to your family."
"From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence and threats against them and their families," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement at the time.
DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the time frames it used to measure the 1,500% and 8,000% increases in assaults and threats, respectively.
The Justice Department has vowed to aggressively prosecute individuals found to be targeting immigration officers or soliciting violent behavior.
Federal prosecutors in October announced the arrest of Eduardo Aguilar, an illegal immigrant living in Dallas, for allegedly posting TikTok videos soliciting individuals to "murder ICE agents," according to a copy of the federal criminal complaint reviewed by Fox News Digital.
Aguilar also allegedly offered a reward of $10,000 "for each ICE agent," according to information shared by the Justice Department. If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison.
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Months earlier, Alan W. Filion, a California teenager, was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for allegedly placing 375 "swatting," hoaxing, or doxxing calls that involved ICE and other federal officers.
Fillon's "serial doxxing" campaign involved falsely reported bomb threats or imminent mass shootings at public schools and religious institutions across the country, according to the Justice Department — prompting an emergency response from myriad federal agencies and first responders, and diverting their ability to respond to real crises.
The Justice Department has cited Fillon's case as a benchmark of sorts for how it will prosecute other individuals found to be weaponizing law enforcement response systems.
The remarks come as Democrats continued to assail ICE as the DHS funding shutdown drags on. Schumer blasted ICE on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday as "rogue" forces that appear almost "trained to be nasty and mean and cruel, and go way beyond what ordinary police departments do."
"They need to be reined in, and they need to stop the violence," Schumer added.
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