*Correction 02/27/26 12:38pm: context for Professor Andrea Sempértegui’s final quote has been altered to accurately reflect the importance of first-responders.
The Washington State Senate passed Bill 5855 by a 30-19 vote, mainly supported by Democratic senators, on Jan. 28. If passed into legislation later this month, the bill will ban the use of face coverings by Border Patrol agents, though it includes exceptions for personal protective equipment and undercover operations.
Currently, the bill faces the House and was first read on Jan. 30. From there, the House could cast a vote as soon as mid-February. If passed, any individuals detained by officers wearing masks could have grounds to sue the law enforcement officers.
The bill was introduced to hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents accountable, as national news reports mass detainments by unidentifiable agents across the U.S.
Assistant Professor of Politics Andrea Sempértegui Barrareiros is less certain of the bill’s potential effect on calling these agents to account.
“From a broader, national perspective, I’m not sure that forcing agents to work without face masks is going to change much, and I also don’t know how possible it is to enforce that measure,” Sempértegui said. “I don’t think that reform will stop the kind of terror we’re seeing in immigrant communities.”
However, this bill is not the first of its kind—in California, Senator Scott Weiner’s (D-San Francisco) No Secret Police Act was signed into law in September, effectively banning federal and local law enforcement from wearing ski masks or extreme masks to cover their faces. The law took effect on the first day of 2026, and many others similar to it are being proposed throughout the nation in states like Virginia, Maryland and Michigan.
As federal funding for ICE increases, states like Washington are responding with bills to limit agents’ anonymity.
“I feel like it’s probably a good thing because ICE is everywhere now,” sophomore Coco Ragan said. “I feel like it’ll make it so that ICE has to actually say that they’re ICE, and maybe it’ll help protect people more.”
The bill is also seen as an extension of the Reasonably Identifiable law that was passed in the state in 2021. While this bill does not specifically ban face coverings, it does require the officer’s uniform to display their name and other information that can be used to identify them.
If passed through the House, the bill will allow ICE agents to be more identifiable and its local supporters hope that it could prevent mistaken reports of ICE sightings in Walla Walla or on Whitman’s campus. Although there have been rumors about ICE in Walla Walla on social media platforms, the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition (WWIRC) reported to the Union Bulletin that they have only encountered one accurate report of ICE.
“It creates a lot of chaos, but also chaos in parts where problems are not happening,” Sempértegui said. “But then you create a situation where, when there is a real threat of ICE, then people don’t know what to believe.”
In response to fears circulating about ICE activity in town, Sempértegui explained that some people may forego calling first responders like local law enforcement or Emergency Medical Services.* Sempertértegui clarified that these resources remain an important tool for community members.
“I think that is one of the ways in which the community starts to disintegrate, when people stop calling the police for emergencies,” Sempértegui said.
Students and the community can also utilize resources like the Walla Walla Activism Network (WWAN) and WWIRC. On Jan. 29, WWIRC held an emergency community meeting, sharing information about the state of immigration and how people could support immigrant communities. WWAN has also held anti-ICE protests and training for business owners to uphold their Fourth Amendment rights.
“They just help our community spread awareness about what ICE is doing and just help keep [people] safe as well,” sophomore Gimena Macias Gonzalez said.
If the bill is passed, it will be one of many state-level efforts to offset federal reach and the authority of agencies like ICE. As legislators consider Bill 5855, residents of the Walla Walla community look to groups like WWIRC to understand individual rights to report potential ICE activity.
