Milwaukee city attorney stands by ICE mask ban in letter to DOJ

In Brief

• Milwaukee city attorney Evan Goyke supports mask ban ordinance.
• DOJ calls ordinance unconstitutional and a threat to federal agents..
• Ordinance prohibits masked law enforcement with penalties up to $10,000.
• City council passed ordinance after ICE shootings in Minneapolis.

Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke is standing firm with his opinion that a recently passed city ordinance that bans federal law enforcement agents from wearing masks is legal and enforceable, calling it a “vital public safety measure.”

Goyke’s message was a formal response to a U.S. Department of Justice letter to city officials calling the ordinance “unconstitutional” and a threat to the safety of federal agents.

“Masked and unidentified law enforcement, at whatever level, increases the risk of dangerous interactions with the public, undermines accountability and police community relations, and stokes confusion, fear, and intimidation,” Goyke said in his July 17 letter to the DOJ.

“It also heightens the risk that bad actors will harm others by impersonating officers, or that individuals might resist legitimate law enforcement actions where they otherwise would not due to the fear that they are facing an imposter,” Goyke wrote.

The letter was addressed to Brett Shumate, Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel, the head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

“Such a law cannot stand,” the DOJ letter warned, noting that such a law can expose federal officers to enforcement against them while performing their duties as well as raise “the specter of a confrontation between local and federal law enforcement.”

Schimel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Goyke, in response to the DOJ letter, said that the DOJ expressed “great concern” for the public safety of federal law enforcement officers, but did not share similar concerns for the safety of the public.

In his letter, Goyke said that by enacting the ordinance, Mayor Cavalier Johnson and the City of Milwaukee “acted to protect the safety and welfare of the residents and visitors of the City, without restricting or interfering with federal law enforcement officers’ ability to perform their lawful duties.”

He added that the city and the public have the right to know “if masked, armed, and unidentified men seizing people on our streets are who they say they are,” noting that the DOJ has issued bulletins warning that criminals have been posing as ICE agents to commit robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults in several states.

Some of the other points Goyke argued included that the ordinance is a “lawful exercise” for the city’s police powers, and it neither “directly regulates” the federal government nor “discriminates” against it.

The Common Council prohibited local and federal law enforcement officers from covering their faces while carrying out their duties in April. Officers who violate the rule face a penalty between $5,000 and $10,000.

Milwaukee Common Council introduced ICE Out, a package of legislation aimed at limiting the federal agency’s enforcement efforts in the city, after immigration agents shot and killed two Minneapolis residents in early 2026.

Shortly after, council members unanimously passed one of their most defiant pieces of that package – an ordinance that bans ICE agents from wearing masks while working in the city.

During the recent spate of ICE arrests in Milwaukee, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said its agents would not follow Milwaukee’s rules, describing council members as “sanctuary politicians.”

In response to this, Goyke notes in his letter that “unbounded discretion, coupled with guns and a lack of accountability, has had tragic consequences” in cities, including Houston, Texas, and Biddeford, Maine. Goyke also noted the recent deployment of federal agents in Milwaukee that “engaged in unnecessarily aggressive tactics” reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The DOJ’s message echoed the Trump administration’s argument in other states that such an ordinance violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which generally establishes that federal law overrides local laws.