Since Trump began immigration raids in Los Angeles in June, local leaders and community activists have criticized agents who sometimes have trouble identifying themselves as federal law enforcement officials or refuse to identify themselves at all.
Now, an unexpected new group is voicing its concerns: the FBI.
The FBI recently issued a memo advising agents to clearly identify themselves when on scene, citing a series of incidents in which masked criminals posing as immigration officials robbed and kidnapped victims.
The FBI explained its reasoning in a three-page document sent to police agencies across the country last month.
The FBI said in the memo that criminals impersonating law enforcement “compromise the trust between them and their communities” and that law enforcement has an “opportunity” to better coordinate with local, state and federal partners to conduct information campaigns to educate the public about imposters and to have agents present identifying information when asked in the field.
Over the past few months, undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens have been detained by masked men on city streets, outside hospitals, courthouses, schools and places of worship. California has banned the use of masks by law enforcement agencies, but a group of masked agents gathered in a parking lot outside Dodger Stadium on Tuesday while conducting more raids.
A man seeking asylum from Colombia was detained by federal agents during a court hearing in New York City immigration court.
(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The FBI memo, obtained through a records request by the national security transparency nonprofit People’s Property, was prepared by the New York field office and first reported by Wired. It details several examples of people posing as immigration agents.
In Florida, a man posing as an ICE agent kidnapped a woman who was in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. The FBI said the suspect approached the woman on April 21, claimed he was there to pick her up, and showed her his shirt with the word ICE on it. The woman got into the suspect’s car and he drove her to an apartment complex, but she was able to escape.
In August, three men dressed in black and vests robbed a New York restaurant and stole from an ATM. The suspects also beat employees and tied them up. The FBI said one of the employees voluntarily turned himself in to the suspect after hearing him identify himself as an immigration agent.
The FBI also pointed to social media posts in April that showed a man wearing a black jacket with an ICE patch standing outside a hardware store intimidating temporary workers. An image circulating on social media matching the description of the incident showed the man also wearing a red Trump hat.
“I don’t know if there is a federal law requiring standard police uniforms,” said David Levine, a law professor at the University of California, San Francisco. “Having a distinctive uniform is a good practice because when federal agents are dressed as villains, with scarves over their faces and paramilitary-style glasses, it’s easier for people to impersonate them.”
The FBI’s national press office did not respond to a request for comment, calling the government shutdown in an automated email reply.
U.S. Border Patrol troops marched after a show of force outside the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on August 14, as Governor Gavin Newsom held a press conference.
(Karin Steele/Los Angeles Times)
The FBI memo comes months after masked agents raided Los Angeles and other cities across the country at the behest of the Trump White House. During the immigration raids, several undocumented immigrants died while trying to flee masked agents, others were shot in cars and many more were beaten by masked agents who did not immediately identify themselves.
Levin said requiring masked federal agents to identify themselves is a person’s constitutional right under the Fourth Amendment.
“In tense moments, calmly ask someone, ‘What’s your name? I can’t see your badge? Can you identify yourself?'” Levine said. “It’s almost impossible to ask all of that when you’re thrown to the ground. But you do have the right to ask.”
In recent years, there have been numerous examples of people allegedly impersonating law enforcement officers in California.
In April 2018, Luis Flores-Mendoza of Santa Ana was sentenced to eight years in prison for impersonating a federal immigration official in an attempt to extort $5,000 from a woman who reported the case to police. The following month, Matthew Ryan Johnston of Fontana was sentenced to two years in prison for impersonating an ICE agent. In 2023 and 2024, Southern California police announced arrests in two separate cases in which men were accused of impersonating police officers during traffic stops.
But state officials are sounding alarm bells over the Trump administration’s approach.
Two Fresno men have been charged with impersonating federal immigration agents and filming themselves harassing local businesses following a federal immigration raid in the Central Valley earlier this year. The Fresno Police Department said the two men, who wore wigs and black tactical vests with letters intentionally obscured so they could read “Police” and “ICE,” confronted officers from nearly a dozen businesses. The department said the men appeared to be doing it for social media and declined to name them.
On July 1, Raymond Cruz, 56, posted a sign on the “No Ice” mural in Inglewood.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The next month, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta issued a warning to Californians about the rise of ICE impersonators and scammers who are trying to “exploit the fear and uncertainty created by Trump’s mass deportation policies.”
“Let me be clear: If you try to defraud or otherwise take advantage of California’s immigrant communities, you will be held accountable,” Bonta said.
In June, two more local cases emerged, but they were not included in the FBI memo.
In one case, Huntington Park police arrested a man suspected of impersonating a Border Patrol agent. Police said the man was in possession of an unlicensed handgun, a copy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security clearance notice and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection radio code list.
Huntington Park Police Chief Cosme Lozano speaks at a news conference after a 23-year-old man from Los Angeles was arrested by Huntington Park police on suspicion of impersonating a law enforcement officer.
(Alan J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
In a separate case, Los Angeles County police arrested a man driving a retired police cruiser with control lights and sirens who allegedly had cocaine, a counterfeit Homeland Security Investigator badge and a pellet gun inside the vehicle.
“The FBI believes that ICE has a public relations problem with impersonators in immigrant communities, and that masked and militarized ICE agents are waging a campaign of terror against these communities on a daily basis,” Ryan Shapiro, executive director of PEOPLE, said in a statement.
The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment.
FBI Director Kash Patel (left), President Trump (center) and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi during a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House on October 15 in Washington, DC.
(Joe Lo Scalzo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Mayor Karen Bass’ office said in a statement to The Times that it is unacceptable for law enforcement officers to conduct operations without properly identifying themselves.
“The mayor has been supportive of state legislation that would require immigration officers to identify themselves and would make it a crime for law enforcement officers to wear face coverings while performing their duties, except in special circumstances, such as to protect against harmful fumes.”
Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes MacArthur Park, Cypress Park and Pico Union, said the FBI memo only confirmed what locals have known all along, even as they created “chaos, fear, mayhem and real danger.”
“Now, even the FBI, under an administration that has aggressively expanded unconstitutional immigration enforcement, has confirmed that when agents cannot clearly identify themselves, it opens the door for violent impersonators to target vulnerable families,” Hernandez said in a statement. “That’s why I co-authored a council motion to require the LAPD to verify the identity of anyone claiming to be a law enforcement officer and to strengthen penalties for impersonating law enforcement. Even Trump’s FBI is warning that unidentified agents are putting us at risk, making it clear that this issue can no longer be ignored.”
Still, not everyone thinks agents will heed the FBI’s advice. Supporters say the mistrust created by this summer’s sweeps will linger among community members for some time, even if agents begin to identify themselves during sweeps.
“I don’t think they’re going to suddenly start walking around without masks, or start walking around and identifying themselves,” said Leo Martinez of VC Defensa, a coalition of local groups working to protect Ventura County’s immigrant and refugee populations. “More than anything, I think it’s a way for the FBI to put a little bit of distance between itself and ICE agents in the public relations world, but that’s not really the case.”
