COMMENTARY: Are Masked ICE Agents the New Ku Klux Klan?

By Wane A. Hailes | Courier Eco Latino Newspaper

Masked, armed law enforcement agents who violate the law and strip people of their constitutional rights are not a new phenomenon in America. Their presence has been woven into this country’s fabric since the Reconstruction era — a chilling reminder that the line between “law enforcement” and “lawless enforcement” has always been blurry when it comes to people of color.

After years of abuse by masked men, some states even passed laws to prohibit officers from concealing their identities while performing official duties. Those laws weren’t just about transparency — they were about accountability. Communities had suffered too long under the terror of anonymous “enforcers” who could brutalize citizens in the name of “order” without ever answering for their actions.

Today, the faces have changed, but the tactics feel hauntingly familiar. We call them Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they called themselves the Ku Klux Klan. Both groups, in their respective eras, operated under the veil of state sanction — empowered, armed, and emboldened to target the vulnerable while hiding behind masks, uniforms, and institutional protection.

ICE operates with an anonymity and impunity that eerily mirrors the Klan’s masked terror. Agents routinely conceal their identities during raids, often arriving in unmarked vehicles, dressed in tactical gear, and armed with automatic weapons. Their actions have led to the separation of families, the terrorizing of neighborhoods, and the deaths of immigrants in custody — yet few, if any, ever face consequences.

Like the Klan, ICE’s power lies not just in what it does, but in what it represents: the state’s willingness to authorize violence against certain groups under the pretense of “security.” The Klan’s hoods protected their members from identification when their violence broke the law. ICE’s badges and bureaucracy serve much the same purpose — insulating individuals from accountability while giving the institution itself legitimacy.

From an African American perspective, this is a familiar story. It’s the story of a nation that has repeatedly allowed masked men — whether draped in white robes or federal uniforms — to terrorize communities of color while claiming to uphold “law and order.”

We’ve seen this movie before. The costumes change, the targets shift, but the underlying script remains the same: fear, control, and the dehumanization of the “other.”

Until this nation demands the same level of transparency and accountability from federal law enforcement that it once demanded of hooded Klansmen, we are doomed to repeat the same cycle — just with different uniforms and better public relations.

Because when the law allows men with masks and guns to act without consequence, history tells us exactly what comes next.