“Our officers wear masks to protect themselves and their families,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained Friday, calling the mask ban signed by Democrat Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger “unconstitutional.”
“To be clear: We will NOT comply with @GovernorVA’s unconstitutional mask ban,” DHS declared in a social media post thanking the U.S. Justice Department for filing a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, and Commonwealth Attorney for Fairfax, Virginia Steve Descano.
DHS officers are being targeted by “a coordinated campaign of violence” that has surged, DHS noted:
“Our law enforcement officers are facing a coordinated campaign of violence including a more than 1,300% increase in assaults and an 8,000% increase in death threats. Our officers wear masks to protect themselves and their families. Thank you to @TheJusticeDept for continuing to stand with the heroic men and women of our law enforcement.”
On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that it has filed a lawsuit challenging Virginia’s “unconstitutional attempt to regulate federal law enforcement officers by criminally prohibiting federal officers from wearing masks [and] requiring individual identifiers.”
Virginia’s law threatens the safety of federal officers facing a wave of harassment, doxing and violence, the Justice Department release says.
"Virginia’s anti-law enforcement policies regulate the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
Gov. Spanberger signed the “Prohibition on wearing of facial coverings; penalty” into law on May 20, 2026. It is slated to take effect on July 1, 2026.
In its civil action, the Justice Department’s complaint filed Thursday seeks declaratory and injunctive relief preempting the law.
In February, Acting Attorney General Blanche issued a memorandum initiating an investigation into all state and local laws, policies and processes that “facilitate violations of federal laws or impede lawful federal operations.” Thursday’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits challenging such illegal activities, DHS reports.
Thursday’s complaint asks the court to preliminarily and permanently enjoin Virginia from enforcing the state law threatening the safety of federal agencies and employees.
