Opinion: Alaska's Congressional Delegation Remains Silent on Masked ICE Enforcement

As federal operations stall and uncertainty spreads, the absence of visible leadership from Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich has become part of the crisis itself.

Published on Feb. 22, 2026

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A government shutdown is not an abstraction in the United States, and neither is silence from those elected to represent the public. As federal operations stall and uncertainty spreads, the absence of visible leadership from Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich has become part of the crisis itself. While lawmakers debate budgets behind closed doors, enforcement practices with lasting implications for democratic norms continue largely unchecked, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining individuals while concealing their faces and, at times, without clearly displayed identification.

Why it matters

Alaskans understand that compromise will be required to reopen the government, but compromise does not require abandoning democratic norms. If reopening the government entails concessions on immigration enforcement, voters are entitled to ask whether the tactics now being tolerated are proportionate and justified. The data show extreme measures applied broadly to a population where most arrests do not involve violent offenses, raising concerns that this is intimidation presented as necessity.

The details

Internal Department of Homeland Security arrest statistics reported by CBS News in February show that fewer than 14% of the nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE during Trump's first year back in office had charges or convictions for violent offenses such as homicide, robbery, sexual assault or arson. More than 150,000 of those taken into custody had no criminal record beyond immigration violations or administrative infractions. This reality brings the focus back to Alaska's congressional delegation, which has supported recent appropriations bills that significantly increased funding for the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, but has not made a sustained public effort to limit masked tactics, require clear identification, or confine heightened secrecy to operations involving genuinely dangerous offenders.

  • In February 2026, CBS News reported internal Department of Homeland Security arrest statistics.
  • The current partial government shutdown began in early 2026.

The players

Sen. Dan Sullivan

A senior member of the U.S. Senate representing Alaska.

Rep. Nick Begich

A U.S. Representative from Alaska.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

A federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that enforces immigration laws.

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What they’re saying

“Alaskans understand that compromise will be required to reopen the government. A majority of registered Alaska voters are classified as nonpartisan or undeclared, making them the state's largest voting bloc. They are willing to tolerate concessions simply to restore basic services. But compromise does not require abandoning democratic norms.”

— Van Abbott, Longtime Alaska and California resident, retired financial manager, and opinion writer (Anchorage Daily News)

What’s next

Sen. Sullivan, as a senior member of the Senate, is positioned to broker a compromise that would authorize a narrowly defined ICE unit tasked exclusively with apprehending the most dangerous violent criminals to use heightened protective measures under strict oversight, while requiring all other ICE operations to operate like every other law enforcement officer in the United States, identifiable and accountable.

The takeaway

Alaska's nonpartisan and independent voters did not send their leaders to Washington to look away as democratic norms erode. They sent them to govern, to set boundaries and to speak when silence becomes consent for the indefensible. The message is clear: no masks.