DOJ Sues Philadelphia Over City Ordinance Banning Masked, Unidentified ICE Agents

On June 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against the City of Philadelphia challenging a local ordinance that bars ICE agents and other law enforcement officers from concealing their faces with masks and requires visible identification while conducting operations in the city. The lawsuit argues the ordinance violates the Supremacy Clause and intergovernmental immunity doctrine by regulating how federal agents may enforce federal immigration law within city limits. The Philadelphia suit followed similar DOJ litigation against California's SB 627 ('No Secret Police Act') and presaged a further DOJ challenge to Virginia's SB 352, both of which restrict facial coverings by federal immigration officers. Philadelphia officials and civil rights advocates defended the ordinance as a public-safety and accountability measure, citing documented cases of impersonators exploiting the anonymity of masked federal agents to commit crimes against immigrant communities.