The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the state of New Jersey and Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) over the state’s law banning federal immigration officers from wearing face coverings on the job.
The federal government argued that the New Jersey law violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which gives federal laws precedence over conflicting state laws. The DOJ also argues that the law banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from wearing face masks is an inherent safety threat to immigration officers who have faced threats and public doxxing.
“To be clear, the Federal Government will not comply with this blatantly unconstitutional law,” the DOJ wrote in the lawsuit. “But the threat of enforcement by Defendants chills individual officers from protecting themselves and performing their duties. The consequences for public safety are severe.”
Sherrill has supported banning face masks for immigration officers since her time on the campaign trail in 2025. She signed the bill, called the New Jersey Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act, into law in late March along with two other bills aimed at restricting immigration enforcement activity in the Garden State.
“Donald Trump’s untrained, unaccountable, masked ICE agents are putting people in danger,” Sherrill said in March. “That’s why in New Jersey, we are protecting our communities — strengthening our protections, banning ICE agents from wearing masks, and protecting residents’ privacy from federal overreach.”
In late February, the Justice Department filed a separate lawsuit against New Jersey over a law restricting the presence of ICE officers on certain state property, also arguing that it violated the Supremacy Clause.
The Trump administration filed Wednesday’s suit against the face coverings ban in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey.
“Protecting the personal identities of federal officers and their families is necessary in part due to the increasingly common threats of targeted harassment of, and retaliation against, federal immigration agents for simply doing their jobs,” DOJ lawyers wrote in the complaint.
The Department of Homeland Security has reported massive increases in the rates of threats and violence against ICE officers. In early January, the department reported that ICE officers had seen a more than 1,300% increase in assaults and 8,000% increase in death threats.
“While such threats have always existed, the volatile political environment and technological advancements have increased such threats exponentially, requiring new tactics to mitigate the harms to officer safety and operational effectiveness,” they continued.
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New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, argued the state law in question “protects both law enforcement and the public by limiting the use of masking while including careful exceptions to protect law enforcement safety and operational needs.”
“To this day, the Federal Government still cannot explain when its officials need to mask or forgo identification in violation of this law, or why they actually need to do so, particularly given the serious safety concerns inherent in anonymized policing,” Davenport said in a statement. “New Jersey responded thoughtfully and carefully to these profound public safety concerns, and we look forward to responding in court.”