‘Protesting is a constitutionally protected activity,’ Sheriff Roy Boyd said. ‘What you’re seeing is not protests. What you’re seeing is an insurgency.’
Since the start of the second Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 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 percent rise in assaults on ICE officers. Assaults are now up by a reported 700 percent—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.
The Epoch Times has spotted anti-ICE graffiti across the country, from Sacramento, California, to Denver, Indianapolis, Chicago, and even Nebraska.
Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director at ICE’s New York City field office, told The Epoch Times 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, told The Epoch Times 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.”
