The Department of Homeland Security called on Democratic politicians, legacy media outlets, and left-wing organizations to stop “demonizing DHS law enforcement.”
The request came less than a week after the assassination of conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, as well as repeated attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers throughout the country, including two incidents over the last week.
“This hateful rhetoric is inspiring political violence in our country and assaults against our brave DHS law enforcement,” read a release issued on Wednesday from the Department of Homeland Security.
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin asked left-wing politicians, activists, organizations, and groups to halt the inflammatory rhetoric “before someone else is killed.”
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“Following the evil act of political violence in the country this week and two brutal assaults on our brave ICE law enforcement last week, we are once again calling on the media and the far Left to stop the hateful rhetoric directed at President Trump, those who support him, and our brave DHS law enforcement,” McLaughlin said. “This demonization is inspiring violence across the country.”
She then explained how such rhetoric has corresponded with a significant increase in violence against ICE officers as they try to do their jobs with illegal immigration enforcement initiatives.
“Our ICE officers are facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against them,” McLaughlin added. “We have to turn down the temperature before someone else is killed. This violence must end.”
The request also came on the same day a man drove a car into the gates of an FBI building in Pittsburgh. The FBI categorized the incident as an act of domestic terrorism.
The release also noted multiple examples of Democratic politicians using “violent rhetoric against DHS law enforcement.”
In one instance, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) compared ICE officers to “slave patrols.”
“When I see ICE, I see slave patrols,” Crockett said in a comment that was highlighted by DHS.
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) has regularly disparaged ICE officers. DHS highlighted a comment he made while giving a commencement speech at the University of Minnesota in which he called ICE officers “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.”
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Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) said the deployment of ICE officers to enforce illegal immigration law had transformed the United States into “essentially Nazi Germany.” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu called ICE a “neo-Nazi group.” And Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said ICE officers were “masked, secret police” that were “terrorizing our communities.”
“This hateful rhetoric is contributing to political violence in our country and a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against our brave ICE law enforcement,” the DHS release noted.
