Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee has deleted a post seemingly comparing ICE agents to members of Mexican cartels.
Cartels have been causing chaos around Mexico since Sunday, when the Mexican army killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as 'El Mencho.'
'Cartel hitmen wear masks. Leftists aren't complaining,' Lee wrote in a Sunday post on X in which he also shared an image of cartel members at a gas station.
Lee's post was quickly criticized by his Democratic colleagues in the US Senate, who say it's a blatant contradiction.
Democrats and Republicans alike on Capitol Hill have been critical of President Donald Trump's ICE raids following the shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis last month.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, responded, 'Yes. Cartel hitmen wear masks. That's why ICE shouldn't.'
'Oh dear Mike,' Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy wrote, adding, 'I literally couldn't make our argument better than you do. The bad guys wear masks. The good guys don't.'
Hawaii Democrat Brian Schatz also chimed in, pointing out that other law enforcement agencies do not wear masks while ICE does.
Utah Republican Mike Lee speaks to reporters in 2022 in Salt Lake City
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, responded to Lee, 'Yes. Cartel hitmen wear masks. That's why ICE shouldn't'
View of a burning bus set on fire by organised crime groups in response to an operation in Jalisco to arrest a high-priority security target, at one of the main avenues in Zapopan, state of Jalisco, Mexico, on February 22, 2026
'Mike, I would like ICE to have the same standards as a local police department, not cartel hitmen,' Schatz wrote.
ICE agents wearing masks is a key sticking point in the current round of debates about Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding, which has now lapsed for a third time in six months.
Schumer has rolled out a list of things needed to secure a vote for DHS funding from members of his caucus, which included a request to 'end roving patrols,' 'masks off, body cameras on,' and a need to 'tighten the rules governing the use of warrants and require ICE coordination with state and local law enforcement.'
Spending bills require 60 votes, meaning Republicans — who hold just 53 Senate seats — need Democratic support even if their entire caucus backs House-passed measures.
Hawaii Democrat Brian Schatz also pointed out Lee's hypocrisy
Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy chided his GOP collegue
An ICE agent holding a taser points at a woman holding a phone after one of their vehicles got a flat tire on Penn Avenue on February 5, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
People gather at a memorial for Alex Pretti who was shot and killed by an ICE agent last month on February 12, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Seven Democratic senators previously sided with Republicans in November to end the shutdown: Catherine Cortez Masto, Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, Jacky Rosen, and Jeanne Shaheen. Independent Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, joined them.
Fetterman in particular has been toeing a fine line, both defending the work of ICE agents 'deporting criminal migrants in our country', while also calling for Noem to be ousted and for the agency to come under 'new leadership.'
Senator Lee's office did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Mail.
