The facts
On October 15, 2026, the Justice Department sued the City of St. Paul, Mayor Kaohly Her, the city attorney, and the police chief in federal court in Minnesota (Case No. 0:26-cv-04498), challenging two city ordinances that tell federal law enforcement how to dress and identify themselves.
Ordinance 26-6, the ID Ordinance, was adopted February 11, 2026, signed by Mayor Her the same day, and took effect March 14. It requires federal officers performing law enforcement duties in St. Paul to visibly display agency identification on the outermost layer of their uniform, and it defines "Law enforcement agency" to include "any federal law enforcement agency".
Ordinance 26-7, the Face Covering Ordinance, was adopted February 18, signed February 20, and took effect March 22. It bars federal officers from wearing face coverings or personal disguises that conceal their facial identity, with limited exceptions for undercover work, tactical operations, and SWAT units. "Face covering" covers balaclavas, tactical masks, gaiter masks, and ski masks, but not N95 or surgical masks.
Both ordinances make willful violations a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both, with each day's violation counted as a separate offense. City council members celebrated the targeting of federal officers. Councilwoman Saura Jost said, "It should embarrass the federal government that we have to outline this baseline practice in law for them, but they appear incapable of shame." Councilwoman Cheniqua Johnson said, "ICE agents should not be able to terrorize our community under the comfort of a mask. Hiding their face shouldn’t be an option. Masks off. It’s that simple."
The Justice Department says courts have already enjoined materially similar laws in California, Virginia, Philadelphia, and New York, and that federal officers "cannot and will not comply" with ordinances that "recklessly disregard officer safety, public safety, and federal operational needs." The complaint documents 39 doxxing and threat cases against ICE employees in Minnesota between January 2025 and March 2026, about 28 percent of the national total, including doxxers running officers' photos through facial-recognition apps and sites like ICESpy.org to find their families, including children.
Our take
What a pack of self-righteous, performative cunts. The St. Paul City Council looked at a federal complaint detailing 39 cases where ICE employees in Minnesota were doxxed and threatened - where assholes ran officers' photos through facial-recognition apps to hunt down their families and children on sites like ICESpy.org - and their brilliant legislative solution was to make those officers wear a fucking name tag. Not to address the psychotic stalkers, but to make the targets easier to identify. It’s like solving a serial arson problem by passing a law requiring all firemen to wear gasoline-soaked uniforms. The sheer, breathtaking stupidity of it would be funny if it weren't so fucking dangerous.
Councilwoman Cheniqua Johnson summed up the entire brain trust with her dipshit proclamation: 'Masks off. It’s that simple.' Yeah, it's simple, you absolute clown. It's simple because you ignored every complex, life-threatening part of the equation. The Justice Department complaint lays it out: this isn't a theoretical fear. Cops are getting their photos scraped and their kids' addresses posted online. And the council's response is to criminalize the balaclava. They made it a misdemeanor, with each day a separate charge, for a federal agent to wear a ski mask while some prick on the internet is trying to figure out where his daughter goes to school. The priorities here aren't just wrong; they're maliciously, performatively deranged.
Then there's the hilarious, revealing detail in their own pathetic ordinance: surgical masks are fine. N95s are fine. But a gaiter or a tactical mask? That's a crime. So St. Paul's big stand is that they'll protect federal agents from COVID, but from a coordinated online campaign to terrorize their families? Nah, fuck 'em - they should smile for the camera. It's a dress code drafted by people whose only understanding of law enforcement comes from bad TV shows and their own smug press releases.
And the best part? This isn't even a new flavor of stupid. The DOJ complaint notes that courts in California, Virginia, Philadelphia, and New York have already slapped down identical laws. So the St. Paul council didn't just come up with a catastrophically bad idea; they plagiarized a catastrophically bad idea that's already been legally curb-stomped multiple times. They wasted city time and resources to pass a law that was dead on arrival, just so Councilwoman Saura Jost could feel a little thrill saying the federal government is 'incapable of shame.' The only thing that should be embarrassed is the city's legal department, which now gets to explain to a federal judge why they thought they could out-muscle the Supremacy Clause with a municipal ordinance about winter wear.
Mayor Kaohly Her signed this bullshit, the city attorney let it happen, and the police chief is now a named defendant. They all got to preen for the local activists, and now they get to lose in federal court while the billable hours stack up. 'Masks off' was their simple, catchy slogan. Getting your ass handed to you in a lawsuit you were too vain and stupid to avoid is even simpler.
