A “cowardly rioter” is suspected of attacking an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office over the weekend, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
A rock was thrown through a window of a Washington State building that subleases an office to the agency on Saturday and a fire was set on the back of its property, according to the agency. While the motive is not yet clear, local authorities are investigating the incident as an act of arson and the Trump administration is calling on Democrats to tone down their anti-ICE rhetoric.
“Make no mistake, Democrat politicians like Hakeem Jeffries, Mayor Wu of Boston, Tim Walz, and Mayor Bass of Los Angeles are contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale,” McLaughlin continued. “Secretary Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to harm law enforcement officers will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
ICE Attack in Washington. DHS image.
The investigation in Yakima, Washington, is ongoing, according to DHS. There were no reported injuries stemming from the attack.
The arson attack is just the latest in a growing trend of anti-ICE outbreaks against the agency since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. McLaughlin noted that assaults against ICE law enforcement have increased a staggering 830%.
Amid a crackdown against illegal immigration, numerous high-profile threats have been made against ICE agents in recent days.
A Texas man was arrested in April after allegedly threatening to open fire on any deportation officers he saw in his neighborhood. In a social media post, he allegedly called ICE agents the “secret police,” a label used by some Democrats and other critics of the agency.
In another instance, a New York man was arrested and charged in July for allegedly posting online threats to kill ICE agents. In one particular post about an ICE operation, he allegedly said he “can’t wait to put a bullet into this guy’s brain, but first his children” and in another online rant, he allegedly said “Kill them all, ICE is the new age gestapo, stop them.”
ICE Attack in Yakima. DHS image.
Beyond threats and other online rhetoric, ICE agents have been subjected to actual violence.
In response to federal immigration enforcement activity in Los Angeles, over 1,000 rioters in June surrounded a federal building, assaulted deportation officers, slashed tires and defaced government property, according to ICE. Press footage of the chaos captured anti-ICE rioters blocking traffic, destroying public property, setting cars ablaze and brandishing the flags of numerous foreign countries.
Those anti-ICE riots in LA spread to other major localities throughout the country in June.
Four individuals accused of spiking a Border Patrol vehicle operating in California were arrested in July. Amid their arrest, they were carrying a tote bag with the branding of an organization that is currently under congressional investigation for allegedly promoting the anti-ICE riots that rocked LA.
The Department of Justice on Tuesday released an updated list of sanctuary jurisdictions across the U.S. that largely prohibit their law enforcement and other government officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities — and Washington State was among the list.
Washington State is no stranger to anti-ICE violence. In 2019, Willem Van Spronsen launched an attack against a migrant detention center in Tacoma. Armed with a rifle and flares, Spronsen attempted to light the buildings on fire, but only managed to ignite a nearby vehicle before he died in a shootout with law enforcement.
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