Federal immigration agents are dressing like elite military special operators. Some say there are reasons for all that camouflage that go well beyond finding and arresting undocumented immigrants.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Democrats in Congress want federal immigration agents – ICE and Border Patrol – to dress like they’re members of law enforcement. It’s part of the party’s demand to end the partial government shutdown. The uniforms now can look more like what the Armed Forces wear in combat missions. WUNC’s Jay Price reports on what may be behind the current paramilitary look.
JAY PRICE, BYLINE: In videos of federal agents shooting protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti or chasing down a food delivery guy on a bike, one visual that stands out is what the agents are wearing – the body armor, helmets, camouflage clothing. Camouflage that’s obviously not designed for concealment on the streets of Minneapolis or in a home improvement store parking lot.
CHARLES MCFARLANE: It’s not your friendly neighborhood cop walking the beat, right? You know, it looks like they’re dressed for an invasion. It looks like they are dressed for an occupation.
PRICE: Charles McFarlane is a costume historian and journalist. He writes a Substack called Combat Threads that focuses on the intersection of pop culture and the military.
MCFARLANE: When you start to see uniforms less as kind of just completely utilitarian and more as trying to send messages both to an in-group and an out-group, you know, I think it kind of unlocks a lot of things for people.
PRICE: He says in recent years, the high-end military look has become inescapable in popular culture, from movies and video games to everyday clothing.
MCFARLANE: I’m literally looking out my window right now, and there’s a man walking his dog wearing multicam pants.
PRICE: And for ICE, the look isn’t just about efficiently rounding up undocumented immigrants. In part, it’s costuming for a kind of theater.
MCFARLANE: DHS is constantly putting out, for lack of a better word, sizzle reels of their operations. The one that I think of a lot is the one in Chicago a few months ago. Basically, like, you know, a raid on a apartment complex that was done at night.
PRICE: The video features helicopters, dozens of officers leading detainees away from the building, slow motion, fast cuts and an evocative soundtrack.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MCFARLANE: I think we can’t undervalue how much of this is all about propaganda opportunities to create content.
PRICE: He says one thing their outfits are trying to convey is a sense of competence. Even though some agents trained only a few weeks, they’re trying to look like the military’s elite special operations troops. And, he says, another goal is to instill fear.
MCFARLANE: There is a kind of, like, menacing quality. You know, they’re wearing body armor that’s making them, like, 1 1/2 times bigger than they actually are.
PRICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, didn’t respond to queries about the uniforms and gear. Neither did Border Patrol or their parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
MCFARLANE: I’d be interested, you know, with the guys in the special forces community of, like, what they think of this gear being worn in this way.
PRICE: Mr. McFarlane, meet Dan Barkhuff, former Navy Seal and Afghanistan combat vet.
DAN BARKHUFF: You know, when I was 10 years old, I had a Patriots jersey, right? It’s like, look at me. I’m a big-leaguer now. I don’t think you need to look like you’re Delta Force to arrest someone.
PRICE: He says one sign the federal agents are at some level role-playing is the mismatch between their outfits and equipment and what they’re doing.
BARKHUFF: Those guys are dressed like they’re going on a CQB mission.
PRICE: CQB is close-quarters battle – high-intensity fighting, often indoors.
BARKHUFF: They are not dressed even like they’re doing a foot patrol. They’re not dressed for land warfare. They’re dressed for going into a house and shooting someone.
PRICE: Many are wearing vests with heavy plates that can stop rifle bullets but make it hard to chase someone.
BARKHUFF: It doesn’t make any sense, right? Like, you want to go and, you know, round up a bunch of Nicaraguan day laborers. Well, I would think you’d want to be able to run – you know, chase people.
PRICE: Barkhuff says the uniforms and gear can contribute to aggressive attitudes and an us-versus-them mindset.
BARKHUFF: Like, when I got kitted up, got in a Humvee, I felt as damn near as invincible as it’s possible to feel.
PRICE: An attitude that’s useful in combat but potentially a big problem for law enforcement. Meanwhile, others who typically wear military uniforms are taking steps to prevent being mistaken for immigration agents. When the Minnesota National Guard was activated to support local law enforcement, they wore brightly colored reflective vests. Simon Schaefer, a deputy state adjutant general, says the vests are both for safety in traffic and to distinguish the National Guard from other agencies.
SIMON SCHAEFER: We are representing the communities that we live in, that we work in. And so being more visible, and it’s the safety of our members, but also it shows the public that the National Guard is present and contributing.
PRICE: And New York Attorney General Letitia James has said her office would deploy legal observers to monitor and document federal immigration raids. She said they’ll wear purple vests, a sign of accountability rather than force. For NPR News, I’m Jay Price in Durham, North Carolina.
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