Politics

ICE Facilities To Receive Security Overhaul Following Violent Attacks

REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jason Hopkins Immigration and politics reporter
Font Size:
  • Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan directed the Federal Protective Service to devise a plan to give additional security to ICE property across the country.
  • The directive is in response to a growing number of attacks against ICE and other immigration agencies, such as a terrorist attack by an Antifa member, a shooting in San Antonio and Molotov cocktail attack in Florida.
  • McAleenan wants a security plan presented to him within two weeks’ time. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement will soon beef up security at facilities in response to a recent slate of violence against the agency’s detention centers and offices across the country.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan instructed the Federal Protective Service to supply ICE facilities with enhanced security, according to a letter the Daily Caller News Foundation obtained. The directive is in response to a number of attacks against ICE property in recent time.

“Our ICE law enforcement partners are coming under increased and ever more violent assault for merely doing their jobs. This is not just a threat to the law enforcement professionals within [the Department of Homeland Security] but an affront to the rule of law itself,” McAleenan said in a letter distributed to DHS personnel on Sept. 12. “Make no mistake: Peaceful protest is a constitutionally protected, time-honored American tradition, firmly woven into the fabric of our shared American rights and values. But violence will not be tolerated.”

The Homeland Security chief noted the terrorist attack against an ICE detention center in Washington state in July and a shooting of an ICE office in San Antonio in August.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan Testifies To The House On The Trump Administration's Child Separation Policy

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on July 18, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“I have directed professionals at the Federal Protective Service, whose responsibilities include the protection of our federal facilities, with presenting a detailed plan for securing all of our ICE facilities nationwide and ensuring that the hardworking employees of ICE can do their jobs in a safe and secure environment, free from the threat of violence,” McAleenan said in the letter.

“I am requesting that this operational plan be presented to me within two weeks of the issuance of this memo,” he continued.

ICE, the agency under DHS that it tasked with carrying out removal orders of illegal immigrants, has become an increasing target by extremists. Willem Van Spronsen, a 69-year-old with ties to Antifa, attempted to set an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, on fire in July, but he died in a shootout with police before enacting too much damage. Spronsen left behind a manifesto that declared his far-left views.

An ICE office in San Antonio was shot at, leaving windows shattered, in a separate incident that took place overnight the following month. No one was killed or injured, but FBI investigators concluded the attack was coordinated and specifically targeted against the agency.

Violence has not been limited to one agency. Authorities arrested a Florida woman in late August for entering a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office and allegedly throwing a lit Molotov cocktail. The fuse disconnected from the bottle and was unable to ignite.

It’s not immediately clear what new security will entail, but a more specific plan will come soon. McAleenan said in the letter that those who are found to have committed violence against DHS personnel will be prosecuted to “the fullest extent of the law.” (RELATED: ICE Protesters Would Be Thanking Agents If They Studied The Issue, Former Chief Says)

“Under my leadership, and with the support of this administration, we will always and emphatically stand with and support our heroic law enforcement community. An attack on one of our own is an attack on ALL OF DHS,” McAleenan concluded.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel