With immigration facilities being targeted by violent extremists and Antifa across the nation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will increase security and tighten access to the facilities.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has ordered the increased security measures in response to Wednesday’s politically motivated shooting at a Dallas ICE field office.
For months now, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing and detention centers, along with ICE agents, have been under attack nationwide.
FBI officials have described Wednesday’s shooting as a “targeted act of violence.” The gunman randomly fired shots at the building and parking lot, and unused bullets found at the scene had “anti-ICE” written on them.
“Our prayers are with the families of those killed and our ICE law enforcement,” Noem said. “The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer.”
Anti-ICE activists and extremists have amplified their intimidation tactics and moved to violence as they try to thwart the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
Some ICE sites report seeing protestors dropped off, indicating an organized effort, while other acts of violence are done by lone men who have been radicalized. They appear to be acting on the violent rhetoric continually spewed by politicians and spread by the media propaganda machine.
“For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed,” Noem said in a statement. “This shooting must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences. Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences.”
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs, said DHS will immediately begin increasing security at ICE facilities across the country.
McLaughlin called it a “horrific shooting that was motivated by hatred for ICE” and highlighted the unprecedented acts of violence against ICE law enforcement, including bomb threats, cars being used as weapons, rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at officers, and doxing online of officers’ families, Newsweek reported.
Police identified the gunman in Wednesday’s sniper attack as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn. He opened fire from a nearby rooftop and left bullet holes throughout the building.
Jahn also shot at the sallyport area where the victims were hit inside a van, killing one detainee and injuring two others. The shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
FBI Director Kash Patel revealed Thursday sought “real terror” for agents, “searched apps that tracked the presence” of ICE personnel and searched videos of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Fox News Digital reported.
“One of the handwritten notes recovered read, ‘Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ’is there a sniper with AP [armor-piercing] rounds on that roof?'” Patel wrote on X.
A handwritten note recovered by investigators said “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?'” https://t.co/18O1LWpHFX
— Alexis McAdams (@AlexisMcAdamsTV) September 25, 2025
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who used to work at the Dallas ICE office, said it’s his “worst nightmare.”
“Seeing the photos today, some of the bullets were in an office that I used to have there,” he said on “Top Story with Tom Llamas.” “It’s just a horrible feeling. People always ask me what’s the thing that keeps me up at night. It’s the safety of the men and women of ICE.”
While leftist lawmakers incite violence and hate, DHS officials maintain they need to work on changing immigration law instead of demonizing ICE officers. They took an oath to enforce immigration law — something the Biden administration failed to do. The media is to blame, too, Noem said.
“The media refuses to tell the truth about the violent criminal illegal aliens ICE is removing — like the monster who strangled and killed a precious baby girl — while demonizing the men and women risking their lives to stop them,” Noem shared on X.
The shooting in Dallas marked the third assault on an ICE facility in Texas in recent months. A group of violent extremists attacked the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4. They fired shots, injured one police officer and vandalized property with graffiti.
A bomb threat was reported at the same Dallas field office a month ago, DHS said. Bratton Dean Wilkinson, 36, claimed to have a bomb in his backpack and showed the security officer what he said was a “detonator” on his wrist, DHS said.
Meanwhile, California officials have increased patrols in the areas surrounding the GEO Adelanto ICE Processing Center after the Dallas incident, Newsweek reported.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release it has stepped up patrols “out of an abundance of caution” and is “actively monitoring potential threats in coordination with our federal partners.”
Across the country, ICE facilities have been the target of violence from rioters and Antifa activists as well as politicians. Last week, activists and lawmakers staged a protest and sit-in at an ICE facility in New York City where more than 70 people were arrested, Deported News previously reported.
Some facilities are used to process illegal immigrants after they have been arrested and are located in urban areas or downtown office buildings, while others are longer term detention facilities while the detainees await deportation.
In Portland, an ICE facility has been the site of an Antifa encampment and ongoing protests since June, despite complaints and calls for help from concerned citizens due to the noise and civil disobedience.
In Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, Eugene, Oregon, and Broadview, Illinois, rioters have clashed with federal agents in an effort to resist ICE and create chaos.
Their tactics are the same: Throw rocks, set dumpster on fire, yell into bullhorns, taunt ICE agents, graffiti buildings and break windows.
The protests turned violent over the weekend outside the Broadview facility, as protestors tried to block ICE vehicles from entering and exiting the facility.
DHS issued a news release naming the violent criminals they are defending, including criminals convicted of drug trafficking, domestic abuse, drinking and driving and assault.
“These rioters in Illinois are fighting to keep rapists, murderers, and other violent criminals loose on Illinois streets,” McLaughlin said. “Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers who every single day wake up and make our communities safer.”
On Tuesday, ICE agents erected a fence outside the boarded-up Broadview Processing Center to keep protestors a safe distance away, but that move immediately prompted criticism from city officials, the local fire chief and the protestors, ABC7 Chicago reported.
