DOJ sues St. Paul over mask ban and ID requirements for federal agents on the job

Sarah Nelson, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Oct 15, 2026

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The Department of Justice is suing the city of St. Paul over ordinances banning federal law enforcement officers — including ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents — from hiding their faces on the job, as well as requiring they identify themselves.

The complaint, filed Thursday in Minnesota federal court, argues the city’s ordinances are unconstitutional by regulating federal officers and “recklessly disregard officer safety, public safety, and federal operational needs.”

The department asked the court to block St. Paul from enforcing the mask measure and the requirement that federal agents display their agency and name on their outer uniform layer.

The suit names as defendants the city of St. Paul, Mayor Kaohly Her, the St. Paul Police Department, Chief Axel Henry and City Attorney Irene Kao. The city of St. Paul declined to comment on the active litigation.

The St. Paul City Council passed its mask ban on Feb. 18, days after White House border czar Tom Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge — the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Supporters of the city’s laws cast the ordinances as acts of transparency and accountability.

Minneapolis does not require federal agents to show their faces, but its separation ordinance 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.”

A bill proposed during the legislative session that similarly called to ban masking for federal agents failed.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit also argues that the penalty for violating the city’s measures, a misdemeanor, could result in officers becoming hesitant to perform their duties over fear of citations or other penalties.

The suit against St. Paul is part of a broader Justice Department pursuit to stop restrictions on federal officers from wearing masks. Similar cases have been filed in Milwaukee, Denver and in Portland on the same day that the department sued St. Paul.

The Justice Department’s effort has seen some success in the courts. Mask ban laws have been preliminarily blocked by judges in California, New York and Philadelphia while the legal challenges proceed.

“These St. Paul and Portland local laws are a direct regulation of federal law enforcement operations and threaten severe consequences for officers and public safety alike,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Federal Government, not state and local governments, gets to decide which equipment federal officers may or may not wear when performing their official duties.”

The lawsuit cites several allegations of threats and harassment faced by local federal officers. The ICE Office of Professional Responsibility investigated 39 cases of doxxing or threats against ICE employees in Minnesota between January 2025 through March 2026, representing about 28% of such investigations nationwide, the complaint said.