A cold and dark optic has cropped up in communities across America — heavily armed federal teams carrying out raids and arrests to meet the Trump administration’s goal of quickly deporting millions of noncitizens. From Long Island to California, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel roll up with their faces covered.

It feels like a counterpoint to the recent local tempest over civilians wearing masks. Last August, County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Trump loyalist, basked in the national limelight by signing the so-called Mask Transparency Act banning facial coverings in public other than for "protecting the wearer’s health or safety or for religious or cultural purposes." Lawmakers at the time cited masked anti-Israel protesters provoking fear.

One year later, that "transparency" debate has morphed into whether it’s justified or safe for ICE personnel to hide their identities in Nassau County. The GOP-enacted mask act didn’t anticipate this year's commando-like conduct of immigration raids.

A bill introduced by Democrats in the Nassau legislature — rejected by Republicans — would have at least tied penalties more firmly to masks worn in the commission of crimes. The bill would have accommodated people in jobs that demand face coverings for physical safety.

Now, in the fog of intimidating raids, the law needs clarification. So does the Nassau County Police Department’s partnership with ICE, which allows its detectives to arrest and help deport immigrants without legal status. The New York Civil Liberties Union charges in a lawsuit that this deputizing of local officers violates state law. The lawsuit's outcome could prove useful in defining the border between federal and county roles in immigration.

To local officials who demand that ICE agents routinely identify themselves, the Department of Homeland Security claims their balaclavas and protect masked agents from "doxxing."

The vague official claims don't carry much credibility. Privacy for civilians doesn't translate well when such privacy is asserted by an arm of the federal government empowered to make people disappear from their communities. Being faceless won’t help civilians avoid panicking or defending themselves when approached.

A recent Fox poll showed while 53% still approve of how "border security" is being handled, 46% do not, especially when those snatched are not those charged with crimes. On Long Island we are seeing masked agents pull longtime and hardworking residents out of communities far from the border. ICE is ordered to detain 3,000 migrants per day. Conditions for housing them have grown crowded and miserable. On Tuesday, Trump plans to visit a detention center called "Alligator Alcatraz," built with FEMA money, to house 5,000 detainees. The administration plays up the theatrics that no one can escape because of alligators and pythons in the surrounding swamp.

Let's face it. Masking cannot help promote order. Opaque quasi-military police actions corrode our sense of liberty. Except in undercover operations, law enforcers should be identifiable. That's common sense.

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