Assaults on ICE officers are up 830%, and Trump officials blame blatantly biased media coverage and out-of-control political rhetoric for the massive surge in attacks on federal immigration enforcement officers.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared the staggering statistic on social media Tuesday, adding: “This new data reflects the violence against our law enforcement in cities across the country in the last few weeks. Politicians across the country, regardless of political stripe, must condemn this. @GavinNewsom, we’re looking at you.”
Just in: our brave @ICEGov law enforcement are now facing a 830% INCREASE in assault against them.
This new data reflects the violence against our law enforcement in cities across the country in the last few weeks. Politicians across the country, regardless of political stripe,…
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) July 15, 2025
According to recent data, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are facing an 830% increase in assaults from January 21 to July 14 compared with the same period in 2024, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.
California’s Democratic leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and members of Congress, have pulled out all the stops to thwart immigration raids in the state. They’ve filed lawsuits, interrupted press conferences, showed up at demonstrations and incited the violence on social media.
Newsom regularly feuds with President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Noem on his X account. Over the weekend, he took aim at Vance who was vacationing with his family:
“JD is back in California. He won’t take the time to debate and defend gutting our Medicaid system, taking away kids’ school meals, militarizing America’s streets, or adding trillions to the debt. Instead, he’s off to Disneyland. Probably to detain Mickey Mouse at this rate,” Newsom wrote on X.
JD is back in California.
He won’t take the time to debate and defend gutting our Medicaid system, taking away kids school meals, militarizing America’s streets, or adding trillions to the debt.
Instead, he’s off to Disneyland. Probably to detain Mickey Mouse at this rate. https://t.co/ppzwnVSqA1
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 13, 2025
In recent weeks, both the media and politicians have amplified their anti-ICE hysteria and one-sided reporting to demonize law enforcement, according to DHS.
“It is reprehensible that our officers are facing this threat while simply doing their jobs and enforcing the law,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
The media falsely reported that a man died in law enforcement custody during last week’s worksite enforcement operation in California, which DHS said is “an outright lie.”
DHS has debunked dozens of these and other fake news narratives that sympathize with illegal criminals and vilify federal law enforcement. “Their lies and fake stories continue to stir up hate and violence, which is leading to these assaults,” per the release.
The Minnesota Star Tribune pushed a sympathetic narrative that a group of convicted sexual predators in Minneapolis were unjustly arrested and blamed it on cultural misunderstanding. The Minnesota Star Tribune sub-headline reads, “The deportations bring anxiety to the Hmong community, and accusations of cultural misunderstanding.”
Democratic members of Congress have been caught red-handed doxing and even physically assaulting ICE officials, as well as staging antics in front of cameras so it quickly spreads on social media.
Just this week, Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-California, showed a violent mob an ICE employee’s business card, which prompted the mob to attack him. The official was struck by a rock and sent to the emergency room where he received multiple stitches.
In May, Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-New Jersey, joined activists and protestors as they stormed the Delaney Hall detention facility. The group breached the security gate, and McIver was caught on camera scuffling with ICE agents. She has been indicted on federal assault charges.
In Portland, ICE officers have been doxed and threatened by local antifa-affiliated organizations who are posting their pictures and personal addresses and threatening them and their families. One officer had trash dumped on their lawn, which included signs that read “F**k you” and named the officer directly.
The increasingly violent rhetoric has turned into action with direct ambushes on Border Patrol Agents and ICE facilities in early July.
Some of the more brazen attacks on ICE include:
- In San Francisco, ICE agents clashed with a mob of masked protesters outside of San Francisco Immigration Court on Tuesday, July 8. The protesters, many donning keffiyehs as makeshift masks, used bicycles to block the entrance and shoved the agents while shrieking and chanting “Shame on you, shame on you,” according to video footage. The protestors also blocked ICE vehicles and jumped on the hood as the agents tried to leave.
- On July 4, a group of rioters carried out an ambush attack on law enforcement at an immigration detention facility in North Texas. An Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck during the attack, but is expected to survive. Officials say 15 individuals in military-style clothing fired fireworks to lure officers out of an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, in what it calls a “planned ambush.”
DHS released the criminal histories of illegals detained there, which include molestation of a minor, sexual assault, murder, kidnapping, arson, aggravated assault and human trafficking.
- On July 7, a Michigan man died after firing at a U.S Border Patrol station in southern Texas. Three law enforcement personnel were injured trying to stop the shooter, identified as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, 27, who opened fire at the entrance of the United States Border Patrol (USBP) sector annex in McAllen, Texas.
- On Thursday, July 10, hundreds of protestors and violent rioters tried to impede and assault federal agents during a worksite investigation, which turned up 14 unaccompanied minors and more than 300 illegal workers, at two marijuana grow operations in Ventura County, California.
Some of the rioters hurled large rocks at law enforcement vehicles as they tried to leave. One protestor appeared to fire shots at federal agents, resulting in the FBI issuing a $50,000 reward for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.
- In Portland, anti-ICE protestors and antifa have been protesting for a month. Portland rioters violently targeted law enforcement and stormed an ICE field office. On June 18, antifa rioters had a showdown with federal agents, who deployed rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs to quell the crowd.
The nighttime protests have erupted into violence as protestors have set up a camp across from the building, prompting local residents to confront them over the noise and loitering.
In a video posted on X, a neighbor using a cane walks out to confront the protestors. “Turn that sh*t down. It’s midnight,” the resident says to a protestor holding a megaphone. “We the people need sleep.”
