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The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that assaults against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and federal agents conducting immigration enforcement are up nearly 700% compared to the same time last year.
DHS recorded 10 assault events from Jan. 21, 2024, to June 30, 2024. From the day after President Donald Trump took office earlier this year until Monday, the department recorded 79 assault events, representing a 690% increase year over year.
DHS said the true number is likely higher as they are moving at such a fast pace that some assault reports may not be accounted for yet.
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Last month, DHS identified the “serial criminal” who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport where 15 ICE agents and 12 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were staying.
Eric Anthony Rodriguez was arrested in connection to the June 21 attack, which “was unsuccessful, and no one was injured,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said last week.
Describing Rodriguez as a “coward,” McLaughlin said, “Dangerous rhetoric by sanctuary politicians has fanned the flames of violence against federal law enforcement.”
DHS said Rodriguez has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree robbery, falsifying checks, theft and vandalism. He also had an outstanding felony warrant for violating parole.
In another case, a suspected Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang member was charged with the attempted murder of a federal officer last month.
According to a criminal complaint, Gabriel Hurtado-Cariaco, a 30-year-old Venezuelan national living illegally in Bellevue, Nebraska, began to fight with a special agent on the ground after being pulled over during a traffic stop. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and FBI special agents possessed an active immigration-related warrant for Hurtado-Cariaco’s arrest at the time.
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Court documents say Hurtado-Cariaco was able to throw the agent off him, launching the agent into the air. As other officers tried to intervene, he allegedly placed the injured agent into a chokehold until officers pried him away.
DHS has also identified Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala, a child sex offender and illegal alien from Mexico who allegedly dragged an ICE officer 50 yards down the street with his car while trying to evade arrest in Bloomington, Minnesota, last month.
“This illegal alien has been committing violent crimes in the U.S. for nearly 15 years,” Laughlin said. “He is a convicted child sex offender who has a rap sheet that includes an arrest for domestic assault and multiple driving offenses. Under Gov. Tim Walz, this sicko was living in Minnesota without consequence. Instead of comparing ICE law enforcement to the Gestapo, Gov. Walz should be thanking our brave law enforcement for arresting these violent criminals.”
Trump, meanwhile, is traveling Tuesday to a newly constructed remote immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“This is not a nice business,” Trump told reporters of his deportation efforts while departing the White House earlier Tuesday.
The facility, assembled on a remote airstrip about 50 miles west of Miami, could house 5,000 detainees.
Republicans are inching close to passing Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” after getting through a final Senate vote on Tuesday. If passed by the House, the bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump’s border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.
The package also includes funding for hiring 10,000 new ICE officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year.
The Homeland Security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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