Assaults against ICE officers up 1,300%, vehicle attacks up 3,200%

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Assaults against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are up 1,300% since the second Trump administration began compared to the Biden administration era.

Increases in vehicular attacks against ICE agents are up 3,200% and death threats are up by 8,000%, according to the latest ICE data.

Prosecutions and sentencings are ongoing nationwide from California to Florida against illegal foreign nationals and U.S. citizens for assaults, vehicular attacks and death threats being committed against ICE officers.

The latest ICE assault arrest was in Florida. The latest U.S. citizen who pleaded guilty to doxxing an ICE officer was in California.

In Florida, a Mexican national was charged with felony aggravated assault on a federal law enforcement officer after attacking an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in Orange County.

“Assaults on our officers will not be tolerated,” ICE Enforcement Removal Operations Miami Field Office Director Matthew Elliston said. “Assaulting and obstructing law enforcement officers is a felony, and anyone who does so will be fully prosecuted.”

Elliston also attributed “irresponsible rhetoric” made by some elected officials and on social media for contributing “to a massive increase in violence and threats against federal law enforcement officers performing their congressionally mandated duties.”

In this case, ICE officers were working with Florida Highway Patrol’s Criminal Alien Apprehension Team conducting a vehicle stop near Americana Boulevard and Pointe Vista Circle when multiple illegal foreign nationals bailed out and ran away on foot, authorities said. Officers pursued them and in one case, an ICE agent attempted to apprehend a Mexican national, Elias Bautista, who authorities said actively resisted arrest.

“A physical altercation ensued, during which Bautista struck the ICE agent, causing a significant head injury before fleeing the scene,” ICE said.

A multiagency operation ensued to locate him “using surveillance, intelligence gathering, witness interviews, and law enforcement databases.” The Levy County Sheriff’s Office, ICE and FHP carried out a targeted operation and arrested him despite his efforts to again allegedly resist. He was charged with felony aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, ICE said.

Bautista “entered the country illegally at an unknown time and location,” as a gotaway, ICE added. A “gotaway” is the official term used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to refer to foreign nationals who illegally enter the country between ports of entry to evade capture. They don’t make immigration claims and historically, many have criminal records. More than two million gotaways were reported illegally entering the country during the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported.

In California, U.S. citizen Gregory John Curcio pleaded guilty to “one count of violating the protection of individuals performing certain official duties.” In this case, Curcio identified an ICE attorney, posted her home address online, and directed others on social media to “swat” her using that address, The Center Square reported.

At the time, as riots and protests against ICE officers increased nationwide, many social media users began attempting to identify ICE agents and their family members. They also allegedly publicized their names and addresses on social media and encouraged violence be committed against them. Others also followed ICE officers to their homes, also doxxing them and their family members, leading to their arrests, The Center Square reported.

“Doxing is the act of publishing private or identifying information about an individual on the internet with malicious intent. Swatting is a form of harassment that often involves placing a false emergency call to law enforcement, such as reporting a false ongoing crisis at a specific location to prompt a significant law enforcement response,” ICE explains.

“ICE attorneys litigate removal cases against illegal aliens who are human rights abusers, murderers, child rapists and terrorists,” ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall said. “Like all federal officials, they play an enormous role in protecting American lives. The Trump administration has zero tolerance for people who jeopardize these legal professionals’ safety.”

Curcio’s sentencing is scheduled next month. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.