By Nathan Worcester
Contributing Writer
Since the start of the second Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have faced increased opposition on the street. Some of it has crossed the line between free speech and physical violence.
In early June, anti-ICE protests in greater Los Angeles slid into riots, with protesters throwing rocks, glass bottles and other objects.
President Donald Trump deployed the California National Guard and U.S. Marines, against the objection of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Meanwhile, critics of ICE in Congress, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have accused agents of using excessive force and causing “psychological terror” by wearing face coverings and using unmarked vehicles. Authorities said the agents wear masks to avoid being doxxed and targeted.
At the time, the Department of Homeland Security had reported a 413% rise in assaults on ICE officers. Assaults are now up by a reported 700% — and the violence has taken on new forms.
In the past few weeks, ICE officers and Border Patrol agents have been shot at in separate incidents in Texas. And a protester allegedly hurled an incendiary device at ICE officers during a recent demonstration in Portland, Oregon.
Meanwhile, in Camarillo, California, a protester allegedly fired a pistol at ICE agents during an operation that uncovered illegal immigrant children working on a cannabis farm. A man fleeing the operation died after falling 30 feet from a building.
Anti-ICE graffiti has been spotted across the country, from Sacramento to Denver, Indianapolis, Chicago and even Nebraska.
Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director at ICE’s New York City field office, said that “this is only going to get worse.”
“There’s people out there trying to hurt you now,” said Mechkowski, who serves on the advisory board of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement.
Roy Boyd, sheriff of Goliad County, Texas, said that he “can see that it’s escalating.”
“Protesting is a constitutionally protected activity,” he said. “What you’re seeing is not protests. What you’re seeing is an insurgency in the United States fighting against the will of the people.”
Shootings
On July 4, a late-night ambush occurred in Alvarado, Texas.
According to a criminal complaint, a group of 10 to 12 people clad in black were shooting fireworks at an immigrant detention center. They then began attacking cars in the facility’s parking lot.
Two unarmed correctional officers with the Department of Homeland Security approached the group.
At almost the same moment, an officer of the Alvarado Police Department drove into the parking lot. As soon as he stepped out of his vehicle, he was shot.
He was injured — struck in the neck — but not killed. Another shooter who was standing in nearby woods also fired shots at the correctional officers. Altogether, 20 to 30 rounds were fired at the officers, according to the complaint.
Ten suspects were initially charged with the attempted murders of the three law enforcement officers, while an 11th suspect, the alleged driver of a van that night, which contained an AR-15-style rifle, was charged separately.
Another suspect, Benjamin Hanil Song, remains at large, and the FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information that assists in his apprehension.
Three days later and 481 miles to the south, another shooting marred the early morning hours.
Ryan Mosqueda, a 27-year-old from Michigan, walked toward a Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas, carrying a semiautomatic weapon.
He fired dozens of rounds at its entrance, injuring a local police officer and two Border Patrol agents. The agents returned fire, killing Mosqueda.
The White House blamed “dangerous, inflammatory rhetoric from Democrat politicians” for the shootings and the Oregon assaults on officers.
Boyd said he believes that the growing disorder on the streets is downstream of a coordinated, organized campaign by the political left.
“This is not by chance,” he said. “It’s not happenstance. The federal law enforcement agencies, the FBI, need to be looking into this as quickly as possible.”
Mechkowski, who noted that he is a political independent, said he prays that the violence will not lead to more deaths “on either side.”
“I think the issue is that there is in this country a negative connotation to any law enforcement,” he said. “There’s cops that are being threatened and agents that are being threatened all over the United States on a daily basis for trying to do a job.”
Both law enforcement veterans questioned how anti-ICE protesters, some of whom are violent, learn so quickly where enforcement actions are taking place. They cited concerns with leaks.
The Department of Homeland Security has alleged that Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., deliberately doxxed an ICE employee, giving the employee’s details to aggressive protesters after the employee gave him a business card.
Masking and Identification
As tensions have increased, ICE critics have consistently raised concerns about agents obscuring their faces and not displaying identification during operations.
Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., have introduced legislation that would require ICE agents to wear identification. The bill would also prevent them from wearing masks under most circumstances. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and other Democrats are co-sponsors.
“The lack of visible identification and uniform standards for immigration enforcement officers has created confusion, stoked fear and undermined public trust in law enforcement,” Booker said in a statement on the legislation, called the VISIBLE Act.
Mechkowski questioned the necessity of such measures. He said officers have “an absolute duty to identify [themselves] to the intended target,” but not to others.
He said the condemnation of masking from elected politicians was contributing to the violence.
“Unless they’re held accountable, I don’t think that’s ever going to stop,” Mechkowski said. “I think it’ll get worse and worse.”
Boyd called for local law enforcement, particularly in California, to step up arrests of violent anti-ICE protesters.
“Everybody needs to get on board and assist their federal partners,” Boyd said.
Mechkowski said tougher sentencing laws and aggressive prosecutions could deter future violence.
“If you have a case against them, and you get it, and they start doing some serious time, I think people will think twice,” he said.
Travis Gillmore contributed to this article.
