Masked Federal Agents Undermine Accountability, the Constitution, and Our Rights as Citizens 

I’ve carried a gun in combat. I served in Iraq and Afghanistan, shoulder to shoulder with Marines and Army soldiers, confronting the enemy while working to protect civilian noncombatants. We wore face coverings only during sandstorms or long convoys to keep dust out of our lungs—not to hide who we were from the people we were trying to protect. When we met with local elders, teachers, and shopkeepers, we removed our sunglasses and helmets so they could see our faces and recognize us as human beings, not anonymous enforcers of power.

That is what professionalism and patriotism look like: visibility, accountability, trust. Law enforcement in the United States is supposed to operate by those same principles. Increasingly, federal agencies—especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Customs and Border Protection—are doing the opposite.

Across the country, masked federal agents are operating in American cities with little transparency and even less accountability. This anonymity is dangerous. It creates the conditions for abuse, and the predictable result is what we are now witnessing: civilians killed by agents of the state under highly questionable circumstances.

In Minneapolis this month, two U.S. citizens were killed during encounters with federal immigration enforcement. Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, was shot by an ICE agent after he placed himself dangerously in front of her vehicle and opened fire as she attempted to leave. As someone who has used lethal force in combat, I can say plainly that the use of lethal force was not justified.

Weeks later, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old registered nurse working at the local VA treating veterans, was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents while documenting a federal operation. Video shows Pretti attempting to help a woman being shoved by an agent before he was pepper-sprayed, restrained, and shot. Despite legally exercising his Second Amendment rights to carry a firearm concealed, he never brandished a weapon. Video evidence supports the claim that Pretti was disarmed by agents before he was shot multiple times and killed. Subsequent investigations will undoubtedly confirm that federal agents deprived him of his liberty and his life.

These deaths are not isolated. They reflect a broader pattern of anonymity and impunity that erodes public trust and violates the Constitution. The First Amendment protects the right to observe government action. The Fourth protects against unreasonable force. The Second protects our right to bear arms. When masked agents operate like an occupying force, those rights start to seem optional. They are not, and our ancestors fought a revolution against the tyranny of King George III to uphold them. When those trusted to protect and serve are allowed to abuse the Constitutional rights of citizens without accountability, correction, and legal recourse, we are citizens no longer – we become serfs. Is this the America you want to live in?

Masking during routine law enforcement should be exceedingly rare. No badge should place a federal agent or those directing them above the law. The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti demand full, transparent investigations and real accountability. The preservation of our Constitutional rights depends on it. This is not the America our founders envisioned, and it is not the America I served 20 years in uniform to defend. We the People deserve better, and the families of the slain deserve justice.

Joe Plenzler
Warren County, VA
Decorated USMC Combat Veteran

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