Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday joined calls to expose federal immigration agents responsible for deporting illegal immigrant criminals from the country.
The Democratic AG co-led a letter to Congress from 21 attorneys general urging lawmakers to approve legislation introduced in both chambers that would ban non-medical face coverings and require agents to display agency-identifying insignia, as well as their name or badge number.
“Normalizing the practice of using masked agents who do not identify themselves is not just a shocking escalation of unscrupulous police tactics – it also presents a significant danger for residents and officers alike,” Nessel said in a statement. “It is only a matter of time before an officer is hurt resisting what appears to be a kidnapping, or before bad actors start simulating this behavior to apprehend whomever they want.”
In the letter to lawmakers, the AGs argued “Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers’ now routine practice of carrying out arrests in public spaces through masked agents who do not identify themselves as law enforcement has the effect of terrorizing communities rather than protecting them.”
Nessel, who earlier this month sued the Trump administration to protect illegal immigrants using taxpayer-funded Medicaid, said in a video posted to YouTube that “Congress has the ability, and I would argue the moral responsibility, to pass legislation that protects public safety and upholds transparency and accountability.”
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, introduced the Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement Act in the upper chamber last week alongside Sens. Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Alex Padilla, D-CA. Sen. Gary Peters, D-MI, co-sponsored the bill.
Similar legislation in the House, dubbed the No Secret Police Act, is co-sponsored by Michigan U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit. Scholten has also co-sponsored legislation to provide legal status and protections for illegal immigrants.
“With a growing number of reports of individuals impersonating ICE officers in recent months, this measure is more important than ever – not just for our national security but for the safety of border states like Michigan,” Slotkin said in a statement. “These basics protect officers and the public, promote transparency, and build trust with law enforcement.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told the media at a press conference in Tampa on Saturday that attacks on federal immigration officials are up nearly 700% from 2024, going from 10 assaults through June 30 to 79 assaults in 2025, WPEC reports.
“Violence is anything that threatens them and their safety, so it is doxing them, it’s videotaping them where they’re at when they’re out on operations, encouraging other people to come and to throw things, rocks, bottles,” Noem said. “We’ve seen Molotov cocktails thrown at them.”
In Portland, criminals and Antifa-affiliated groups are doxxing the personal information of ICE officers to reveal their identities and those of their families and children, a situation the DHS contends “put our law enforcement in grave danger as highly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, criminal rings, murderers, and rapists can use this information to carry out attacks on federal law enforcement and their families.”
The doxxing involved posters in Portland neighborhoods that included agent names, pictures, addresses, and pictures with their families, along with messages like “NO PEACE FOR ICE” and “CHINGA LA MIGEA,” which translates to “F**k immigration services,” according to DHS.
Slotkin introduced the VISIBLE Act just four days after ICE agents were ambushed on Independence Day at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where “a heavily armed group lured two unarmed ICE agents into a parking lot … by firing a barrage of fireworks at their door and spray-painting graffiti on their personal cars with the words ‘traitor’ and ‘Ice Pig,’ which agents could see from the cameras inside,” Fox News reports.
Agents called 911 around the same time to report two men firing rounds from a nearby tree line, and an officer was hit in the neck. Police later found seven suspects with weapons, vests and radios who attempted to escape on food, according to the news site.
Days later, on July 7, U.S. Border Patrol killed a Michigan man who fired dozens of rounds at the entrance of a Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas, according to the Texas Tribune.
One McAllen police officer was shot in the knee during the exchange, while another officer and border patrol agent sustained injuries, all from bullets that penetrated the building, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez told the news site.
Last week, protesters clashed with federal immigration officials as they raided a marijuana farm in southern California, where someone wearing a mask fired a pistol at ICE agents, ABC News reports.
At least 10 juveniles, eight unaccompanied and one as young as 14, were working at the marijuana facility, according to CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
Earlier this month, Congress approved One Big Beautiful Bill that includes significant funding increases for immigration enforcement with a focus on hiring 10,000 more federal immigration agents and ramping up arrests to 3,000 per day.
