Public Schoolteacher Faces DOJ Probe Over ‘Unhinged’ Threat Toward ICE

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will refer a California teacher for a possible criminal probe after he made threatening comments toward immigration officials, the agency told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation.

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) history teacher Ron Gochez said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “are not the only ones with guns” and that “people have every right to defend themselves” against them during a Tuesday press conference denouncing ICE raids. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF that Gochez’s comments endanger agents’ lives and “looks criminal.”

“Calling for violence against law enforcement is un-American and beneath the conduct of someone teaching the next generation of Americans,” McLaughlin told the DCNF, adding that the DHS will refer him to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“Our law enforcement officers are already facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them including terrorist attacks, cars being used as weapons, and rocks thrown at them,” McLaughlin said. “Words have consequences and this type of rhetoric is going to get one of our officers killed.”

LAUSD and Gochez did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. Gochez led the press conference on behalf of activist group Unión del Barrio (UDB), which did not respond to a request for comment.

“The Department is actively tracking these targeted assaults against our law enforcement and will hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” a DOJ spokesperson told the DCNF. “Anyone encouraging reckless behavior should think twice before inciting further violence and putting federal agents in harm’s way.”