U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are facing what the Department of Homeland Security calls an “unprecedented wave of violence,” with death threats rising more than 8,000% as agents continue to enforce President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In a statement Wednesday, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said ICE agents are confronting daily threats, harassment, and organized campaigns of intimidation from extremist activists and sanctuary politicians who have “vilified and demonized” federal law enforcement.
“From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence,” McLaughlin said. “Sanctuary politicians have fueled this surge through their repeated vilification and demonization tactics, including gross comparisons to the Nazi Gestapo. This violence against law enforcement must end.”
DHS officials say these threats have escalated in recent months alongside intensified enforcement operations targeting violent criminal aliens, human traffickers, and cartel-linked smugglers. Agents and their families have been targeted with death threats, phone harassment, and online doxxing — some offering cash bounties for their killings.
Earlier this month, Eduardo Aguilar, a Mexican national living illegally in Dallas, Texas, was arrested after allegedly offering $10,000 on TikTok for the murder of an ICE agent, calling for “ten men in Dallas with determination.”
In another case, an ICE officer’s spouse received a threatening phone call saying, “I hope your kids get deported by accident. Did you hear what happened to the Nazis after World War II? Because it’s what’s going to happen to your family.”
In Washington state, James Adrian Warren allegedly threatened the ICE field office in Ferndale, calling agents “Nazis” and vowing to “make life harder for ICE” by tailing and filming employees. His social media posts reportedly encouraged others to do the same.
DHS said the surge in violence follows years of rhetoric from sanctuary city politicians and activist groups who have compared ICE to Nazi secret police, a narrative the agency says has “put targets on the backs” of officers and their families.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reaffirmed that her department “will not back down,” promising full prosecution of anyone who threatens or harms a federal law enforcement officer.
“ICE and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to enforce the law,” the department said. “And if you lay a hand on an officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
DHS officials urged public leaders and media figures to stop dehumanizing ICE agents, reminding Americans that these men and women are “fathers and mothers, sons and daughters” who risk their lives every day to protect communities.
