By Naveen Athrappully
Contributing Writer
An illegal immigrant was arrested in Dallas after posting a video on TikTok that offered $10,000 bounties for killing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, the Department of Homeland Security said in a prepared statement.
Eduardo Aguilar, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested on Oct. 14 following his Spanish-language TikTok video that called for “10 dudes in Dallas with determination who aren’t afraid to [two skull emojis],” the agency said.
“Thanks to the quick work of law enforcement, this illegal alien who was offering $10,000 cash bounties for the murder of ICE law enforcement is in custody and facing federal charges. We are thankful this illegal alien, who had a firearm in his possession, was arrested before he could kill one of our law enforcement officers,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin.
“Our agents are facing ambushes, terrorist attacks, and death threats, all because they dare to enforce the laws passed by Congress. We will not back down from these threats, and every criminal, terrorist and illegal alien will face American justice.”
Aguilar entered the United States illegally in 2018 as an unaccompanied minor. In February 2019, an immigration judge issued an order to remove him from the country.
When Aguilar was arrested, he possessed a loaded 9mm handgun in his vehicle. It is a felony for illegal immigrants to possess firearms in the United States. He has been charged with transmitting in interstate or foreign commerce a communication containing a threat. Aguilar was previously charged with violation of liquor laws.
A legal representative for Eduardo Aguilar could not be reached as of the publication of this story.
Mexican cartels have placed bounties on ICE personnel and issued “explicit instructions” to monitor, harass and kill agents, according to a DHS statement released on Oct. 14.
Cartels are offering $2,000 to gather intelligence and dox agents, $5,000-$10,000 for non-lethal assaults or kidnapping of standard ICE or Customs and Border Protection officers, and up to $50,000 for assassinating high-ranked officials, according to the DHS.
In a Saturday post on X, the DHS shared a TikTok video showing multiple young, Black individuals and a message threatening the lives of ICE officers. “ICE we’re on the way. Word in the streets cartels put a $50K bounty on y’all,” the video said.
“If you threaten or lay hands on our law enforcement officers, we will hunt you down and you will find out, really quick. We’ll see you cowards soon,” DHS responded.
Legal proceedings have been initiated in some cases involving threats to ICE officers.
The Department of Justice revealed last week that a federal grand jury charged two men with making threats against an ICE agent and his wife on social media.
One of the defendants, Frank Andrew Waszut, posted an Instagram video with images of the ICE officer. Waszut allegedly wrote in his post, “And he’s an ICE agent. This is him unmasked. … So, go ahead and make him famous.”
Waszut called on people to give the officer a “cell block one treatment” and to catch him when he is alone in public. According to the DOJ, a “cell block one treatment” refers to subjecting a detained individual to physical violence.
The second man allegedly made a call to violence against the officer’s wife in another Instagram post.
Domestic terrorists such as Antifa have been threatening the families of law enforcement personnel.
Last week, DHS shared an audio clip of a threat received by the wife of an ICE officer. The caller compared ICE to Nazis and warned that her family would suffer the same fate as “what happened to the Nazis after World War II.”
