DHS Reports Massive Spike in Assaults Against ICE Agents Following Democrat Rhetoric

The facts are staggering, and they point to a disturbing trend that should concern every American who believes in the rule of law. Since President Donald Trump took office, vehicular attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have increased by 1,300 percent. Overall assaults against these federal officers have risen by 1,000 percent, and death threats have exploded by 8,000 percent.

Let us be clear about what these numbers represent. During the final year of the Biden administration, there were exactly two vehicular rammings of ICE agents. The Department of Homeland Security now reports 99 vehicle attacks against DHS law enforcement officers since January 20. Attacks against Customs and Border Protection officers have increased by 58 percent in the same period.

The difference between then and now is obvious. The Biden administration conducted virtually no large-scale, targeted immigration enforcement operations. The Trump administration is enforcing immigration law vigorously, and Democrat politicians are responding by painting federal law enforcement officers as villains.

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated the obvious connection. “The uptick in these kinds of attacks is being fueled by the constant demonization of ICE and CBP officers by Democrat politicians,” she said. “They need to knock it off before they get one of our officers killed.”

Consider Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose rhetoric exemplifies the dangerous game Democrats are playing. Johnson has repeatedly called Trump a racist and characterized ICE agents as terrorists. This week, he escalated further, claiming that immigration enforcement represents an attempt to “relitigate the Civil War.”

“They have not accepted the results that the North actually won,” Johnson said, referring to the Trump administration and conservatives.

This is not merely hyperbolic. It is historically illiterate and deliberately inflammatory. Johnson claimed that Trump is targeting education, housing, transportation, jobs, and health care, which he described as “literally the five demands of descendants of slaves.” The logical connection between enforcing immigration law and slavery is nonexistent, but Johnson made the comparison anyway.

The irony is rich. Johnson invokes the Civil War while apparently forgetting that the Confederacy was led by Democrats. Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, was a Democrat. Alexander Stephens, the Confederate vice president, was a Democrat. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, was a Democrat general.

But historical accuracy matters less to Johnson and his allies than political theater. By comparing ICE agents to Confederate soldiers and calling them terrorists, these Democrat leaders are painting targets on the backs of federal law enforcement officers.

The consequences are predictable and measurable. When politicians tell their constituents that ICE agents are terrorists conducting attacks comparable to slavery, some individuals will act on that rhetoric. The 1,300 percent increase in vehicular attacks is not coincidental. It is the logical result of reckless political rhetoric meeting reality.

Senator Ashley Moody of Florida has introduced the HALO Act to provide additional protections for ICE officers facing these escalating threats. This legislation recognizes what should be obvious: federal law enforcement officers enforcing duly passed laws deserve protection, not demonization.

The choice facing Democrat leaders is simple. They can continue their inflammatory rhetoric and risk the lives of federal officers, or they can recognize that enforcing immigration law is not terrorism, racism, or an attempt to reinstate slavery. It is simply law enforcement.

The facts do not care about political narratives. ICE agents are not terrorists. They are federal officers doing their jobs. The surge in attacks against them correlates directly with the surge in political rhetoric against them. Democrats should stop siding with those who attack federal officers before their words lead to tragedy.

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