Ten individuals have been charged for attacking a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas, with another suspect still at large.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested the 10 people who were involved in an armed attack on the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado last Friday, ICE announced Tuesday.
Prosecutors say the attackers donned tactical gear with weapons and wounded a local police officer during the assault. The wounded law enforcer is expected to recover.
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Each suspect is facing multiple charges, including terrorism, aggravated assault on a public servant with a deadly weapon, or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer.
Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons vowed to hold those responsible accountable “to the fullest extent of the law,” calling the “escalation in violence … incomprehensible.”
“This is precisely what we have been warning against, as disinformation and dangerous politically-motivated rhetoric spreads,” Lyons continued.
“We are thankful to Alvarado Police Department responding officers and that the officer injured has been discharged from the hospital. We will continue to work with the FBI and Texas Rangers as they investigate and prosecute those involved.”
ICE claims that its personnel currently face “a 700% increase in assaults as activists masquerading as immigrant advocates continue to impede operations.”
The Trump administration has argued that the apparent increase in physical attacks on ICE officials is fueled in part by inflammatory rhetoric from Democrats and liberal activists against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy.
“We certainly call on Democrats to tone down their rhetoric against ICE and Border Patrol agents,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.
“I would encourage [Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and other Democrats to actually meet with the United States Border Patrol. These are honorable Americans who are simply trying to do their job to enforce the law.”
ICE operations have garnered increased attention and scrutiny since Trump returned to the White House in January and directed the agency to crack down on those who entered the United States illegally. Trying to fulfill the president’s campaign promises, the White House has pressured federal agents to arrest up to 3,000 people per day.
Many have been critical of ICE’s tactics, which have reportedly included detaining undocumented people in the streets while wearing facemasks and showing no official identification while doing so.
Some Democratic politicians have openly compared ICE agents to Nazis, with Wisconsin Gov. Tim Walz — Democrats’ 2024 vice presidential hopeful — among them.
In a commencement speech delivered at the University of Minnesota Law School graduation ceremony in May, Walz called the Trump administration’s ICE a “modern-day Gestapo” that was “scooping folks up off the streets.”
Even before Trump regained power, many progressive politicians and activists called for the abolition of ICE, arguing that it lacks proper oversight and harms families.
“I believe we need to protect families who need help, and ICE isn’t doing that. It has become a deportation force,” tweeted U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in 2018.
“We need to separate immigration issues from criminal justice. We need to abolish ICE, start over and build something that actually works.”
