() Allegations of women being mistreated by federal immigration officers and men posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have prompted nearly three dozen Democratic lawmakers to demand Homeland Security officials immediately launch an investigation and change the way the federal agency does its job.

In a letter sent this week by members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE director Todd Lyons, White House border czar Tom Homan and Jennifer Fenton, the associate director of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, DWC members expressed “grave concerns” over how masked agents are treating women during federal immigration enforcement operations.

“All our lives, we are taught to fear masked men in unmarked vehicles,” the letter stated. “We learn we should run from such men to avoid being kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or killed. Yet, ICE is increasingly conducting raids and arrests in masks, plain clothes, without visible identification or badges, using unmarked vehicles – tactics that cause confusion, terror, and mistrust among the public.”

ICE has been criticized by immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers for officers failing to properly identify themselves while conducting immigration enforcement operations around the United States. Many of the complaints involve masked agents who have been accused of hiding behind anonymity, making it easier for impersonators to carry out attacks on women, the DWC members suggest.

The letter says ICE impersonators are being enabled to “leverage women’s uncertainty and fear of immigration consequences to rape, harass and abuse them.”

Allegations of ICE impersonators abusing women span the country

Citing several past incidents involving men who were posing as federal immigration officers, DWC members said ICE has been complicit in allowing attacks involving impersonators to continue.

“These tactics invited perpetrators of violence against women to take advantage of the chaos by impersonating masked ICE agents in order to target and sexually assault women,” the lawmakers wrote.

ICE impersonators have been arrested in multiple states following incidents of men posing as federal officers. Instances have included complaints filed by women in Maryland, North Carolina and New York who say they were raped, robbed and assaulted by men pretending to be enforcing immigration laws.

A Latina woman says she was raped by a Washington, D.C., man posing as an immigration officer after she was forced into a car, according to WUSA. She said she had been threatened with deportation if she didn’t comply.

In North Carolina, a migrant woman told police she was raped and kidnapped by a man who claimed to be a federal immigration officer and threatened to deport the woman if she did not comply.

In New York, police said a man posing as an ICE officer attempted to rape a 51-year-old woman after he reportedly approached the woman and said “immigration” but did not show a badge. Police said that the man allegedly pulled the woman into a basement stairwell and assaulted her.

Arick Fudali, a partner and managing partner with The Bloom Firm, told on Friday that, like in many cases involving the abuse of women, the reports of ICE officers and impersonators involve an imbalance of power.

Whether the allegations involve actual ICE officers or those dressed like federal immigration officers or agents, fear and intimidation factor greatly into the encounters with migrant women being detained.

“It’s a really scary situation because of the power and really unchecked power that real ICE officers seem to wield,” said Fudali, who has exclusively represented survivors of sexual abuse in civil lawsuits since 2011. “All these lines are blurred about what their power is and who these agents actually are.”

Fudali said that, because in many cases, ICE officers conducting immigration sweeps are dressed in uniforms that are easy to replicate, impersonators follow a similar script when targeting women. In some cases, like those in Washington and North Carolina mentioned above, the men threaten the women with deportation if they do not comply.

Fear and intimidation characterize encounters with immigrant women who have heard of countless cases of federal officers using their authority to their advantage, the attorney said.

“(To migrants), it doesn’t sound out of the ordinary for someone like that to wield their power to exploit and sexually abuse someone,” Fudali told . “And what are (the women) going to do?”

Noem says ICE agents always have identification

Noem said at a news conference last week in suburban Chicago that ICE officers are “always wearing something” that identifies them as federal immigration officers and the operation to which they are assigned.

She acknowledged that at times, officers wear masks to protect their identity amid an increase in reported assaults against ICE officers. Noem has said that assaults on ICE officers have “increased by 1,000%” since the start of the year.

However, ICE has repeatedly not addressed inquiries from and other news organizations about how that figure was reached or what constitutes an assault on its officers.

Told of instances in which ICE officers reportedly did not identify themselves, Noem replied, “I would like to see that because they have identification and have gone into situations and they are looking for these dangerous criminals and have been verbally identifying themselves.”

ICE accused of mistreating women in detention centers

This week’s letter from the DWC marked the second time in less than a month the group has spoken against ICE over the alleged mistreatment of women. In June, the group sent a similar letter, which addressed allegations of mistreatment and abuse taking place in federal detention centers where women awaiting deportation are being held.

In the letter, lawmakers outlined the case of Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus, who was taken into ICE custody in May after being arrested in Tennessee. Monterroso-Lemus, who was pregnant, reported experiencing pain and no fetal movement for three days, yet she was ignored, she said.

The woman told reporters that in ICE detention centers in Alabama and Louisiana, she was repeatedly denied medical care and was forced to sleep on the floor.

A Department of Homeland spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment from on the allegations made in the letter sent in July.

“Over and over again, women are being mistreated by ICE, (Customs and Border Protection) and contractors from detainment to detention,” the DWC wrote. “These horrifying stories are the result of systemic neglect, cruelty, and policy failures that we must confront head-on. We demand answers, accountability, and action.”