Death Threats Against ICE Officers Skyrocket 8,000%

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a stark alert about an “unprecedented level of violence” targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. New data released Wednesday reveals death threats against these frontline agents have surged by a staggering 8,000% in fiscal year 2025 compared to the previous year, prompting vows of aggressive federal action and renewed calls to curb inflammatory political rhetoric.

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a fiery statement, described the threats as a direct assault on law enforcement heroes. “Our ICE law enforcement is now facing an 8,000% increase in death threats against them while they risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst,” McLaughlin said. “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 and threats against them and their families.”

The figures, drawn from internal DHS tracking, mark the latest in a series of explosive spikes. Earlier this year, assaults on ICE personnel jumped 413% in June, ballooned to 700-830% by July, and hit 1,000% in September following a deadly shooting at a Dallas ICE facility. While absolute numbers remain in the dozens monthly—up from a baseline of mere handfuls—the percentage leaps underscore a terrifying trend: isolated incidents evolving into coordinated campaigns of terror. DHS attributes much of the vitriol to “sanctuary politicians” who, it claims, demonize ICE through comparisons to the “Nazi Gestapo” or “slave patrols,” inciting real-world backlash.

The human toll is harrowing. In a Texas case that has ICE agents on edge, Eduardo Aguilar, a Mexican national living illegally in Dallas, was arrested earlier this month after posting on TikTok offers of $10,000 bounties for each murdered ICE agent involved in deportations. Authorities found him in possession of a firearm, and he’s now facing federal charges for soliciting murder. “This isn’t rhetoric—it’s a roadmap for assassination,” said ICE Director Todd Lyons in an internal memo obtained by Fox News.

Family members aren’t spared. One officer’s spouse in Texas fielded a venomous voicemail: “I don’t know how you let your husband work for ICE… F— you, f— your family. I hope your kids get deported by accident.” Such harassment has led to heightened FBI monitoring of encrypted apps used by extremists, including cartel affiliates reportedly offering up to $50,000 for assaults on agents.

Doxxing has emerged as a weapon of choice. In San Diego, 68-year-old Gregory John Curcio was arrested for leaking an ICE attorney’s home address online and urging “swatting”—fake emergency calls triggering SWAT raids. Portland saw Antifa-linked groups post agents’ photos with kill lists, while Chicago riots in May involved protesters slashing tires and hurling threats to stab officers. A September Dallas attack killed one detainee and injured two others in a hail of gunfire, motivated by anti-ICE fury.

This wave coincides with President Trump’s intensified deportation push, targeting over 1 million “criminal aliens”—including MS-13 gang members, fentanyl traffickers, and sex offenders—since January. ICE raids in Los Angeles and Oregon have sparked protests that, per a joint DHS-FBI bulletin, are being hijacked by domestic violent extremists (DVEs) for pre-planned strikes. “These aren’t spontaneous; they’re tactical evolutions from vandalism to lethality,” the bulletin warns, citing 20 arrests tied to the Dallas incident alone.

Social media amplifies the peril. On X, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin broke the story Thursday, sharing Aguilar’s threat screenshot and garnering over 27,000 views. The post drew bipartisan outrage: Conservatives like @diondale55 demanded jail time for threat-makers, while LA Times reporter Brittny Mejia noted the doxxing of families. Yet skeptics, including NPR analysts, question the stats’ baselines, arguing small raw numbers inflate percentages without broader context. DHS counters that even one threat is intolerable in a job where agents detain high-risk individuals like Salvadoran fugitive David Rodriguez-Veliz, wanted for homicide and extortion.

DHS’s response is multifaceted: Immediate security upgrades at ICE facilities nationwide, including barriers and surveillance boosts post-Dallas. Joint Terrorism Task Forces are probing DVE networks, and Attorney General Pam Bondi has greenlit maximum penalties under 18 U.S.C. § 111 for assaulting federal officers. President Trump, in a Wednesday X post, blamed “Radical Left Democrats” for stoking the fire, linking it to the recent assassination of conservative organizer Charlie Kirk.

Critics from the left, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, decry the raids as fear-mongering that empties schools and cripples economies, signing the “No Secret Police Act” to unmask agents despite the risks. Immigrant advocates, via NPR, highlight tense Chicago encounters where agents’ aggression mirrors the threats they face—a vicious cycle.

As bounties circulate on the dark web and protests simmer, McLaughlin urged unity: “The violence and dehumanization must stop. These are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters enforcing the law.” With midterms looming, this crisis tests America’s fractured immigration debate: Can enforcement prevail without bloodshed? DHS pledges no retreat, but the human cost mounts daily.